Parish of Ascension OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS Tommy Martinez Parish President Richard A. Webre Director Parish Emergency Management Advisory Committee Meeting March 31, 2010 11:00 AM Meeting Minutes Call to Order I. Roll Call a. Committee Members Present/Absent (See attached sign in sheet) II. III. Overview of PEMAC a. Establishment of PEMAC i. ACT 524 of the 2009 Regular Legislative Session was signed into law by Governor Jindal as Louisiana Revised Statute 29:727(I). This act requires that the parish or police jury president form a Parish Emergency Management Advisory Committee (PEMAC). b. Committee Roles & Responsibilities i. Provide executive level input that will enhance command, control and coordination during declared emergencies within the parish. ii. Meeting agenda is broken down into four topics of discussion and will follow the four phases of emergency management. 1. Mitigation 2. Preparedness 3. Response 4. Recovery Mitigation a. Grants Management Overview i. Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) 1. Nineteen million dollar grant that will be used for mitigation projects throughout the parish, such as: Wind hardening for Lamar Dixon Expo Center and disaster recovery centers throughout the parish.
ii. Active grants 1. Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) 2. State Homeland Security Program (SHSP) 3. Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) iii. All active grant timelines are managed by an LEPC grant work group subcommittees and are managed in accordance with GOHSEP and DHS performance periods. iv. The subcommittee members meet on a monthly basis and the members are made up of representatives from first responding and support agencies throughout Ascension Parish. v. Primary grant projects include the following: 1. Combining 2008 and 2009 SHSP and UASI 75% is allocated to an inoperable communications project, repeaters and communications tower. 2. IECGP 2008 is allocated to communications training 3. IECGP 2009 is allocated to the purchase of communications equipment once all training has been completed. 4. Citizen Corps 2008 and 2009 is managed through Ascension Amateur Radio Club which forms the Citizen Corps Program Council. Both grants were expended to purchase communication trailer and equipment. 5. USAR Training that was completed on March 1 5, 2010 was funded through 2009 UASI (USAR justification). b. Auxiliary Power Generators (LRA Funding) i. Auxiliary powered generators were purchased through LRA grant funding. ii. A list of each auxiliary powered location is listed in the meeting packet (page 6). iii. Rick confirmed to Dr. Trevino that all of the transfer switches have been installed at all of the designated locations for the mobile generators. iv. President Martinez informed the committee that the Parish of Ascension will be purchasing a fuel truck for generator refueling purposes. v. Ascension Parish School Board noted that they now have generator power. vi. Ascension OEP has a list of critical business that has backup generator power. IV. Preparedness a. Contra Flow Evacuation Traffic Control Points i. All traffic control points and evacuation routes remain the same, no changes in 2010.
b. Meeting teleconferencing schedules i. Video teleconferencing for the parish was purchased in 2009 from EMPG grant funds. Six sites are located throughout the parish that allows all government agencies access to the system. ii. City of Gonzales is looking at purchasing teleconferencing equipment or they will use the Parish teleconferencing in the executive level conference room. iii. Gonzales Fire Department is currently in the process of purchasing their video teleconferencing equipment. iv. Ascension Parish School Board has offered their teleconferencing site to the Mayor and Chief of Police for the Town of Sorrento. v. The Parish President has offered the City of Donaldsonville the use of the video teleconferencing system located in the president s office of the west bank. vi. Dr. Trevino stated that St. Elizabeth Hospital is in favor of connecting their teleconferencing system with Ascension Parish Government. St. Elizabeth Hospital would also like further training on WebEOC for their staff. vii. President Martinez would for each municipality and the school board to have radio contact with parish government. He has agreed to let them utilize the DPW 450 MHz radio frequency for communications during declared emergencies. viii. GOHSEP conference calls are conducted at 0700 and 1600 daily. Ascension Parish Government will conduct internal conference calls immediately following GOHSEP, approximately at 0800 and 1700 daily. c. WebEOC i. Our goal is to integrate all local government agencies onto one single platform. WebEOC is used for all resource requests. ii. WebEOC training will be conducted prior to the 2010 hurricane season. d. Parish Joint Information Center (JIC) i. The parish JIC will be located in the executive conference center upon EOC activation. ii. Ascension Parish Government and a Leadership Ascension project Team has purchased the JIC equipment and will have it operational by June 1, 2010. e. Training Update i. Ascension OEP has been certified by GOHSEP to train the IS 300 and 400 courses. All EOC emergency staff has completed IS 100, 200, 300 and 400. Another IS 300 and 400 training will be scheduled in 2010.
ii. USAR trench rescue and structural collapse training was held at the Gonzales Fire Department on March 1 6, 2010. Students were selected to participate from each fire district within the parish. iii. Active shooter training was conducted on March 24, 2010. The Ascension Parish Sheriff Hazmat Team, CRT Team, along with an OEP representative was in attendance. iv. Technical training for the mobile oxygen trailer was conducted for all fire districts in January of 2010. v. Ascension Parish will conduct a multi-discipline, multi-agency exercise in November of 2010 at the Festival of Festivals. This event will be held at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center and approximately 150,000 people are expected to attend. During this time, we d like to test our ICS capabilities, communications and joint information center. V. Response a. POD sites i. We will have two primary POD locations. 1. Lamar Dixon Expo Center on the east bank 2. Lemann Center on the west bank ii. OEP will contact industry to obtain a status update prior to opening the POD s. b. Logistics & Resource Operations i. Ascension has two local supply warehouses. 1. One located on Church Street on the west bank. 2. One located on Roddy Road on the east bank. ii. OEP has a 48 hour supply of water and MRE s stored for first responders. iii. POD, disaster recovery center and emergency food stamps will be located at Lamar Dixon Expo Center. c. Sheltering & Mass Care Operations i. We have one primary shelter sponsored by ARC located at Dutchtown High School. Overflow shelter is located at Dutchtown Middle School. ii. Ascension Parish sponsors one shelter on the west bank located at the Dream Center. This shelter is operated by Church United staff. iii. A medical special needs shelter for children with disabilities will be located on Pupera Road in Gonzales. iv. Dr. Trevino stressed the importance of having the facility properly staffed and preregistering of families. v. The mobile oxygen trailer is operational and stored at our warehouse on Roddy Road. d. Mass casualty and O2 trailer status i. The oxygen trailer and Mass Casualty bus will be staffed with EMS/first responders, if deployed.
ii. Dr. Trevino asked if the mass casualty unit could be deployed outside of the parish. Rick stated that an out of parish deployment would have to be approved by the Parish President. e. Roadway Right of Way (ROW) debris clearing i. OEP will be coordinating a meeting with DOTD, APSO and DPW to ensure the clearing of roadways within the first 24 hours after landfall. VI. VII. Recovery a. Debris removal contract i. Mr. Grant stated that the debris contract has been reviewed and is ready for signatures if everyone is in agreement. ii. All municipalities will piggyback off of the parish contract. iii. Debris removal reduction sites have been preapproved by DEQ. b. Emergency food stamp operations i. Food stamp operations will be housed at Lamar Dixon Expo Center. The committee will formally request a definitive plan from DSS on food stamp operational procedures. They would like the plan to reflect operations, logistics, security and sanitation. c. Lamar Dixon Emergency Management i. We are currently development intergovernmental agreements with state and federal agencies that plan to use Lamar Dixon Expo Center as a base of operations within the Southeast Hurricane Taskforce area. Adjournment 12:24 PM