Emergency Preparedness Committee Meeting:  November 12th, 2020 via Zoom

Members present:  Yvette Fleming, Harry Kellogg, Roger Lindgren, Jan Victorson, Marie Versen, and Owen Polifka

Old Business:

 

Preparedness Survey:

We discussed the timely dissemination of the survey results to the residents of our township.  It was the general feeling that it would be prudent to have these results made available as soon as possible before the memory of completing it becomes too distant.  Roger will have Anna Hipke-Krueger add the survey results summary to the town’s website.  That is logically the fastest way of making it available to the public.  We will also make copies of the summary available at the Community Center at a later date.  Eventually, the EPRPs (Emergency Preparedness Resource Persons) will include a copy to be handed out to their residents along with the other items as discussed in previous meetings.

Emergency Reference Guide (Flip Chart):

Harry shared his latest version of the Epidemic/Pandemic section of the guide to be included in the flip chart.  Although very artistically conceived, the committee generally felt it was too lengthy.  Owen indicated that perhaps the icons took up too much space (clever that they were), and the subtitles were too small to be easily read.  Yvette agreed to formulate a more space conserving version of that section while listing the non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and other best practices in a concise, easy to read fashion.

Emergency Shelter (Community Center):

 

Jan reported that various Wisconsin Red Cross Chapters no longer have representatives available to visit prospective emergency shelters for the purpose of making appropriate suggestions.  Instead, the Red Cross has developed an extensive Shelter Facility Survey to be employed as a tool in suggesting the appropriate modifications allowing a facility to become a safe emergency shelter.  This document addresses a multitude of issues relevant to becomng an adequate emergency shelter.  Yvette had previously presented this document to the committee for review at a prior meeting.  In addition, Shiela Sims of the Madison Red Cross, informed Yvette of the Red Cross’s ReadyRating.org site.  This is a program designed for businesses and organizations for the purpose of assessing their preparedness.  This site also possesses in-depth Covid-19 information.  Although this site deals with assessing preparedness, it doesn’t really deal with emergency safe shelters and how to properly modify them as such.  Roger and Yvette will meet some time in the future at the Community Center and do an extensive “walk through” for the purpose of evaluating what needs to be accomplished to render it as close as possible to the ideal facility outlined in the Red Cross Survey.

Emergency Preparedness Resource Persons (EPRPs):

 

It was reported that each of our township’s neighborhoods (regions) have an EPRP assigned to it with the exception of the village itself.  A couple of prospective candidates were proposed for this position.  Yvette will contact these residents to determine who will be the final EPRP.  We will address the training issues for the EPRPs at the next meeting and will include a list of these incredible volunteers in the minutes of that meeting.

FEMA ICS Course 100:

 

Roger addressed the town board at the last meeting suggesting that each board member take the FEMA ICS 100 course to which they all agreed.  He will ask them to take the course on-line independently.   Roger also suggested the each of our committee members, the EPRPs and other key individuals take the course as well.  We scheduled a “table top” Zoom exercise meeting  (Monday, December 7th, at 6:30pm) for the purpose of reflecting on the FEMA course.  Jan will lead this table top exercise.  She also indicated that each participant in the FEMA course will need to obtain an appropriate ID prior to taking the course.  Harry will email the procedure for obtaining the proper ICS-100 Course ID.  He also reported that a certificate of completion can be printed out assuming that one passes the course test.

FEMA Organizational Chart:

 

We reviewed the FEMA Organization Chart and discussed various individuals who would potentially best fit the positions of our town’s version.  Many of the positions will likely be filled with individuals who are obvious choices based on their current position in the town’s staff.  We also discussed certain aspects of how various positions in the chart would operate as well as relate to the other positions.  A principle feature of an ideal chart would be that each individual would report to only one manager or overseer.  Harry and Roger will meet at a future date to evaluate and possibly reorganize the layout of our town’s organizational chart as well as propose candidates to fill the chart’s positions.

New Business:

 

FEMA Pamphlets and Handouts:

 

Yvette will review various FEMA materials and the committee will decide at our next meeting which of these is appropriate for our EPRPs to provide to their respective residents.

Next Meeting:

 

Thursday, December 10th, at 6:30 pm via Zoom

Respectfully submitted,

Owen