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Citizens Corp Advisory Minutes 08/22/2018 Minutes Collier Citizen Corps Meeting CERT Conference Hotel Naples Florida August 22, 2018 MEMBERS PRESENT The meeting called to order at 10:00 am by Chairman Jaskiewicz The pledge led by Reg Buxton A quorum was present. Chairman Jaskiewicz asked for introductions and as members introduced themselves, Liaison let each member know their status in the group.The majority of members have terms expiring in 2021 and those with term expiring earlier will be notified. Andy Burrows from National CERT(FEMA DC)stopped by to meet everyone but could not stay for the meeting as he had a teaching commitment at the CERT conference. He was introduced and observed the meeting for roughly 15 minutes. Members were asked for individual reports. Al Goodall (Red Cross) said his organization was preparing for hurricane season and are ready to support operations. There is a new Regional Disaster Officer stationed in Miami; he will be traveling throughout the SWFL area The Red Cross has sent 2 volunteers to Hawaii for storm support. The Red Cross understands that CCPS will be the primary for shelter operations until post landfall,when the ARC will take over. Walt asked Al about airport exercise—Al said airport schedules the exercises and will do this again this year. Date to be determined. Barry Gerenstein reported that he CERT Conference is going well.There are over 400 attendees from all over the country and along with the conference activities,there are training sessions being offered during the week.The exercise will take place on Saturday. Barry and one other professional and two other CERT members are attending the train the trainer workshops.There is good support from the fire districts. Two major communities have made major commitments to CERT team development. Chief Cunningham noted that Marco Island CERT just folded.A group of volunteers called Marco Patriots have taken over all citizen driven initiatives.All equipment and tools from former CERT have been donated to North Collier Fire. Chief Cunningham will continue to provide training to any interested parties in the jurisdiction. Chief Cunningham stated that CERT received a$5000 action grant from Volunteer Florida,to be used for training. Fiddlers Creek CERT fell apart and is on the road to being resurrected. More information to follow. Carl Alvarez, Medical Reserve Corps reported that things have been quiet lately. A few CPR classes have been held and were well attended. Chief Cunningham asked about the measles outbreak in north Florida. He specifically wondered if there any discussions about dealing with measles if it hits Collier since Volunteers might be needed for support. Carl stated that he will pose question to Kathleen. Chairman Jaskiewicz noted that the exercises Kathleen has been conducting have been very beneficial Chairman Jaskiewicz also asked about new passes for Med Reserve—his is aging and some members may not have them at all. Carl said he will investigate and report back at a later date. James Cunningham, CERT President reported that CERT cannot utilize CAP aircraft outside the scope of what is contracted,due to insurance issues. However,any other group interested in becoming contractor may utilize the CAP if they go through the application process and are put on the contractor list. There was a discussion of state vs federal fire resources and how they are used. Wildfire preparations continue.The departments have formed an incident management team. Points of evacuation have been identified but additional rally points will be required for multiple evacuation centers. Currently,the main evacuation center is at NCRP,which is considered the standing shelter for wildfire evacuations.A second shelter will be identified as well as secondary rally points. CCPS have recognized that they will be requested to help with sheltering if schools are needed.The CERT conference is offering training for shelter workers here at conference.The conference has great mix of volunteers, paid responders and instructors. The CERT conference is hosting 420 Participants from 27 states and 3 countries.There are 10 seats left for attendees.Anyone who would like to participate,the cost is$150. The Saturday exercise will include 100 victims and will be testing the surge plan for hospitals and EMS. A national CERT conference every other year will be offered to encourage national participation, but the process is still being formalized. The next National CERT conference will be held in Missouri in 2020. Florida CERT is now a formal member of Florida VOAD. Dawn Whelan reported that RSVP received new grant from the Corporation for National and Community Services for the next 3 years. Dawn and others at RSVP been receiving training in disaster readiness and are working with salvation army to hold disaster training next week. RSVP currently has 164 active volunteers. Reg Buxton reported that he attended the EOC disaster exercise and learned a good deal from the experience. City of Naples FD is in the second day of their disaster exercise and it's going well. Walt Jaskiewicz reported that the Coast Guard Auxiliary has been using Everbridge for 5-6 years for personnel accountability;they have tested it 3 times this season and is working very well. Radionet from Ft Myers Beach and St Petersburg—many flotilla units have USCG Emergency Radio Communications Systems.These are all tested before storm season and before a storm.These radios are erected at homes and pick up the slack if other systems fail in storms etc. USCGA has been assisting with airport security testing and that is going well. Drones for sea rescue and virtual Atons Inspections Testing for future. Electronic gauges will send signals to boats. 5 people have been identified as division group supervisors for ICS. Seasonal members leaving has resulted in a drop in ranks, but things should pick up once season starts again. New Business Chief Cunningham stated that some volunteers are looking to cross train in several different arenas. Is this an issue with any VOADs? Al Goodall suggested that it is an issue,since off-season ARC loses many volunteers. Walter Jaskiewicz stated that USCGA has a system of volunteer management to ensure coverage and for personnel accountability and that perhaps other agencies can do the same. Chief Cunningham posed the following: are we competing for the same volunteers? If we work together, we can use volunteers for other needs.Are we utilizing the general pool effectively?Would that fix challenges? Further unification and collaboration would help. We need to discuss this further. Encourage volunteers to participate in other activities.All agencies have databases, but they will not share them and none of them interact. Barry Gerenstein suggested that volunteers may not know about other options. Carl Alvarez stated that Medical Reserve Corps have 41 members, down from 48. Only 1 member responded during Irma. The group agreed that this issue should be an item on a later agenda. The question was posed whether there any members of long term recovery groups in Citizen Corps and a suggestion was made to investigate whether Citizen Corps can add new members. Liaison stated that she will check and report back. Chief Cunningham closed by stressing his appreciation for community and volunteers as well as for the enthusiastic community involvement. The next meeting will be Tuesday October 16 at 10am at the EOC A motion to adjourn was made by Barry Gerenstein and seconded by Reg Buxton. The meeting adjourned at 1100 hrs.