CCAC Minutes 01/13/2022 Collier County Citizen Corps Advisory Committee
January 13, 2022, 10:00 A.M.
Voting Members Present
Reg Buxton, Chamber of Commerce—Chairman
Walter Jaskiewicz, Coast Guard Aux
Chris Byrne, Collier County Fire and EMS Chiefs'Association
Ashley Jones,The Salvation Army
Ed Bonilla, RSVP
Bridget Bannon,American Red Cross
Voting Members Not Present
Barry Gerenstein, Community Emergency Response Teams
MAJ. Richard Farmer,Civil Air Patrol
Non-Voting Members Present
Joshua Starrett, Citizen Corps Liaison—Emergency Management
William Lang, Local Mitigation Strategy Representative—Emergency Management
Mike Shaw—Emergency Management
Danny Fillmore, FL Dept of Health—Collier
Camilo Torres, FL Dept of Health—Collier
Spencer Smith, United Way Collier and Keys
Non-Voting Members Not Present
Dan Summers, Emergency Management—Director
James Cunningham,Collier County Sheriffs Office
Mark Senda,Civil Air Patrol
Opening
Meeting was called to order by Chair Buxton at 10:00 A.M. Roll call was conducted, and quorum
was met. Minutes from October 14, 2021 meeting were approved.
Law Enforcement Update—No Law Enforcement member present
New Business
Spencer Smith with the United Way introduced himself
No discussion on the membership update
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.
Old Business
COVID-19 Update
Camilo Torres
• DOH continues to work their testing sites.
• Percentage of testing is at 20%.Testing is starting to increase; it went from 20 patients a day up
to 200.
Local Mitigation Strategy Updates
William Lang-LMS
• Had a special meeting in December. It was specifically for HMGP CoVID-19.They got a
Mitigation grant funding due to COVID-9 disaster.This grant was a tier one and two and the
monies allocated were distributed evenly throughout the counties.
• LMS received three (3) new projects. One came from NCH. Their new Emergency Manager,
Jennifer Smith came from Lee County.They are looking at blood shields.They are not submitting
to the State, due to tardiness in getting the information to the State.
• Marco Island submitted a project.
• NCF would like to do a generator upgrade. They are under review with the State as well.
• William went through his handout, what the LMS role is for Citizen Corps,and the various
projects and grants.
Mike Shaw—Training/Exercise Update
• Mike briefed out on his handout with the upcoming courses and trainings and some of the
classes he has taken.
• Emergency Management is hosting several courses through Louisiana State University in 2022
for local public safety, local schools,and other partner agencies.
• He mentioned he is working one the upcoming hurricane exercise.
Individual Reports
Danny Fillmore/Camilo Torres—Department of Health
• DOH is continuing training for disasters for DOH.
• Waiting for the Omicron plateau to come down.
• Discontinuing AMRC program due to lack of funding.They have reached out to the regional
coordinator for assistance.
Chris Byrne—City of Marco Island
• On behalf of the County Fire Chiefs Association,they are closely monitoring the effects Omicron
and monitoring staff.
• They are preparing for brush fire season.
Ashley Jones—Salvation Army
• Building on what Chris mentioned for wildfire season.
• They had a great Christmas just under 8000 children where part of the distribution.
• For cities outside of Naples,the Salvation Army elected to do E-gift cards.
• There are still a lot of families in duress from the pandemic.
• Housing is a big issue. There is no safe or affordable housing in Collier. Rent is skyrocketing.
The County did not put caps on the ERA programs.There are several programs that United Way
and Salvation Army can assist families with.
• They are working on getting their canteen services out every couple of weeks to help serve the
community.As mentioned earlier that Collier County may have some difficulties if we continue
to lose our volunteer base. Many volunteers are moving to paid positions elsewhere.
Spencer Smith—discussed the HGCV Grant.This program was developed to people who were
affected by the pandemic and Hurricane Irma, lost jobs and are behind in their bills.They have
shifted their focus to more case management vs volunteers.
Ed Bonilla—RSVP
• Volunteer network is growing,along with volunteer stations. Some volunteers are stepping
back due to Omicron.
Bridget Bannon—ARC
• They are starting their virtual classes for kids and adults.
• They are stepping back their installation program of smoke detectors and fire alarms.
Mike Shaw
• EM has two positions open
o Public Assistance Coordinator
o Mass Care Coordinator(formerly Shelter Coordinator position)
• Regional Domestic Security Task Force recently had a reunification tabletop exercise. We will be
working with some of our partners on post incident mobilization mechanisms.
William Lang
• Mentioned Alert Collier and encouraged the members to sign up and explained a little bit of
how it works.
Walt Jaskiewicz—Coast Guard Aux
• Discussed their new building and some of the issues they are facing
• Their programs are slowing down,except the auxiliary Chefs program.
• He suggested that Citizen Corps go out and talk to the new seasonal residents about how to
prepare for hurricane season, and mooring their boats, and securing property before they head
back north.
Josh Starrett on behalf of Barry Gerenstein C.E.R.T.
• C.E.R.T—GNF assisted with collection and distribution for the holiday toy drive
• C.E.R.T. has not been doing any trainings but have held meetings.
• C.E.R.T. has a new Coordinator that is in training to become an instructor.
The next meeting will be held on April 14,2022, 10:00 AM at the Emergency Services Center.
Meeting adjourned at 10:52
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Chairman Buxton Date