Citizen Corps Minutes 10/14/2021 Collier County Citizen Corps Advisory Committee
October 14, 2021, 10:00 A.M.
Voting Members Present
Walter Jaskiewicz, Coast Guard Aux—Chairman
Reg Buxton, Chamber of Commerce
Barry Gerenstein, Community Emergency Response Teams
Chris Byrne, Collier County Fire and EMS Chiefs' Association
Ashley Jones, The Salvation Army
Ed Bonilla, RSVP
Bridget Bannon,American Red Cross
MAJ. Richard Farmer,Civil Air Patrol
Non-Voting Members Present
Mike Shaw,Citizen Corps Liaison—Emergency Management
Dan Summers, Emergency Management—Director
William Lang, Local Mitigation Strategy Representative—Emergency Management
Joshua Starrett—Emergency Management
James Cunningham, Collier County Sheriff's Office
Mark Senda,Civil Air Patrol
Danny Fillmore, FL Dept of Health—Collier
Camilo Torres, FL Dept of Health-Collier
Opening
Meeting was called to order by Chair Jaskiewicz at 10:00 A.M. Roll call was conducted,and
quorum was met. Minutes from June 3,2021 were approved.
New Business
At the June meeting Chairman Jaskiewicz mentioned he wanted to step down as chair. Reg
Buxton was nominated to become the new Chairman. Barry Gerenstein made the motion and
Ashley Jones seconded. All voting members in favor. Barry Gerenstein was nominated as the
Vice Chairman, with Walt Jaskiewicz making the motion and Reg seconded.
There was discussion of having the Advisory Committee appoint a Secretary to take minutes, but
no members were nominated in the meeting. EM Staff will continue to transcribe the meeting
minutes. Barry Gerenstein made the motion to continue to record the minutes until a Secretary
is determined.
Joshua Starrett is the newest member of the Emergency Management team. He is the new
Volunteer Agency Coordinator. Josh will be the new liaison for Emergency Management.
Law Enforcement—No update provided, representative later arrived and provided an update in Agency
Reports
COVID-19 Update:
Dan Summers:
• The State has closed the monoclonal site but will reopen if there is a surge in patients.The State
will not support the cost of the site. Our challenge is to find a site in Collier.
William Lang—LMS
• FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) open grant(s)
o FEMA-4486-DR-FL: COVID-19 Pandemic HMGP
o Collier is considered Tier 1 and 2 and has just over$2.3 Million allocated from the State
o FDEM announced on 09/28/2021
o Application Deadline: 12/21/2021 at 5:00 pm (electronic)or 11:59 pm (hardcopy)
o https://www.floridadisaster.org/dem/mitigation/hazard-mitigation-grant-program/
• FEMA Non-Disaster Grants
o Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) and Flood Mitigation
Assistance(FMA)Grants
• BRIC was increased from $500 million (2020-2021)to$ 1 Billion (2021-2022)
• FMA is budgeted at$160 million for 2021-2022
• 2021 NOFAs announced on August 13, 2021
• Application Period Begins:September 30,2021
• Application Deadline to FDEM: November 12, 2021, by 5:00 pm
• Application Deadline to FEMA: January 28, 2022, by 3:00 pm
• https://www.floridadisaster.org/dem/mitigation/builing-resilient-infrastructure-
and-communities-bric-grant-program/
• https://www.floridadisaster.org/dem/mitigation/flood-mitigation-assistance-
progra m/
There was a question from the Chair, inquiring about recent flood insurance changes and what it
means for homeowners.
Since homeowners and flood insurance policies seem to be increasing in costs,and the potential
for private insurance providers to "drop" policies pre/intra season, is there any forecasting that
would indicate that FEMA might provide more mitigation funding for homeowners?"
Mr. Lang responded by first making a distinction between homeowners' insurance (which is all
private industry) and flood insurance (which can be either through the National Flood Insurance
Program (NAP) or private flood underwriters/producers). Mr. Lang explained four important
items of consideration for flood insurance.
1. First was that unlike private flood insurance,the NFIP will always honor a policy as long as the
annual premium is paid (no lapse in coverage)
2. Second,with recent updating of the NFIP,via "Risk Rating 2.0", it is important for existing to
maintain their policy (no lapse)so that they can be placed on a percentage glide path towards
actuarial (full risk) rating.
3. Third, in the sale of an existing home (not new construction),the NFIP allows an existing flood
policy to be transferred between the outgoing and incoming property owner.This can further
preserve the previously mentioned glide path methodology associated with Risk Rating 2.0.
4. Finally,as with historical legislation associated with the NFIP,the bigger picture of long-term
reauthorization of the NFIP is the important end goal,where better mapping, regulation,
insurance, and mitigation directives can hopefully be ironed out at Congressional level.
Mike Shaw—Training/Exercise Update
Discussed recent and upcoming ICS training courses. Emergency Management is hosting several
courses through Louisiana State University in 2022 for local public safety, local schools,and
other partner agencies.
Individual Reports
Danny Fillmore—Department of Health
Provided an update on testing and vaccine rates which are steadily decreasing. Continues to
offer these resources and monitor the situation.
Chris Byrne—City of Marco Island
Barry Gerenstein—C.E.R.T.
• The National CERT organization held a successful Conference is Springfield Missouri July 12-17.
• The Florida CERT Association held their conference with 160 attendees on
• August 23-28 in Crystal River Florida.
• North Collier Fire-Rescue teams:
North Collier teams have not resumed their in-person meetings at this time.
North Collier CERT members will be assisting with setup and clean up at the 911, 20th
anniversary ceremony at Naples High School. CANCELLED
A CERT training class is scheduled to start on October 2 at Station 45.CANCELLED
until after 1"of year.
• Greater Naples Fire-Rescue teams:
One team (Naples Reserve) has started in person meetings.
Verona Walk CERT still using Zoom due to temporary closing of its meeting site.
• Districtwide meetings have restarted and are scheduled for the 2nd Thursday of every month.
• On August 21 an open house was held at GNFR Headquarters for anyone interested in learning
about the CERT program.There was a good turnout,with many requesting to join and seeking
training.
The course will be given at GNFR HQ at a TBD date.
• Verona Walk CERT conducted a drive by of the Florio home in VW on Sept. 11.Their son,John
was one of the 343 N.Y.C. firefighters that perished on September 11, 2001. Chief Sapp visited
with the family.At 1:00 PM the drive by started led by GNFR trucks,CCSO police cars,and EMS
ambulances,followed by over 200 residents'vehicles.
Commander James Cunningham—CCSO
Advised the committee that he will be representing the Sheriff's Office in future meetings and
providing information as appropriate.
Ashley Jones—Salvation Army
• Mentioned that Collier County may have some difficulties if we continue to lose our volunteer
base. Many volunteers are moving to paid positions elsewhere.
• Some of the struggles the Salvation Army is having are
o Volunteers are going back North for hurricane season
o COVID-19 TSA staff has been pulled in multiple directions
o Due to the pandemic,the TSA has lost their Fellowship
• TSA pivoted by providing e gift cards because we did not and could not use volunteers.
Richard Farmer-CAP
Ed Bonilla—RSVP
• Our outreach activity is increasing and the number of seniors contacting our office looking for
volunteer opportunities is increasing. We are also securing new volunteer host sites to offer our
volunteers more options. RSVP is available to assist with outreach efforts of other Advisory
Committee members.
Bridget Bannon-ARC
The next meeting will be held on January 13, 2022, 10:00 AM at the Emergency Services Center.
Meeting adjourned
•
Chairman'Buxton Date
** NOTE**
The Recording of this meeting and the minutes are not fully available due to equipment failure.