Minutes

October 12, 2005

Present: Jeff Ashworth, DXP-SafetyMaster; Charles Bonnett, ExxonMobil; Meridith Cox, BusinessWatch Montana; Bill Facer, FBI; Todd Gansel, YARES; Kathy Gibson, Billings Fire Dept; Craig Guelff, Brenntag West, Inc.; Lyndy Gurchiek, AMR; Rae Ann Haight, US Postal Service; Marv Jochems, Billings Fire; Jim Kraft, Yellowstone County DES; Boris Krizek, City of Billings Public Works; Evey LaMont, School District #2-West High; Dianne Lehm, Big Sky EDA, Richard Vanluchene, MSSC Board member; Joe Marcotte, Deaconess Billings Clinic; Doug Moore, Yellowstone City/County Health; Greg Neill, ConocoPhillips; Duke Nieskens, County Water District Billings Heights; Verne Petermann, Billings Police Department; Maaika Powers, Citizens Corps/CERT; John Puckett, Yellowstone City/County Health; Alan Riley, Lockwood Fire District; Rick Russell, Lockwood Water & Sewer; Pam Sanderson, United Way Volunteer Center; Michael Smith, MSSC; Gary Workman, City of Billings Public Works-Water; Travis Lindskog, St. Vincent Healthcare; Mike Linder, Yellowstone County Sheriffs Office.
Introductions:
Agenda Item	Discussion	Action Steps / Future Events
Minutes	Approved as distributed with noted corrections (Gansel/Bonnett)
Financial Report	Jim Kraft reported that the current balance is: $12,825.19	Next report: December 2005.
Committee Reports	Exercise Design Committee: [Jeff Ashworth, Chair] Tabletop exercise (power outage/water service interruption scenario) scheduled for October 5^th was canceled due to the October 4^th snowstorm. No new date has been set, but Jeff reported that it may be sometime in November (mother nature permitting). Future exercises: Greg Neill, ConocoPhillips reported that they are in the preliminary planning stages of a 2-3 day event with a full activation of the EOC for sometime in mid-2006. Dr. Doug Moore, City/County Health Dept reported that it is their plan to design an exercise for fall 2006 and conduct a mass immunization drill. It is their plan during the exercise to actually vaccinate 5000 people.	New date for Table top exercise power outage / water service interruption scenario. Conoco Exercise update Mass Immunization drill update
	Grants Committee [Dianne Lehm, Chair] FY 04 Homeland Security Grant. Dianne reported that they have received an extension through March 2006 for finalizing this grant. FY05 Grant. Still no news from the State regarding how these funds will be dispersed. Jim Kraft reported that it is his understanding that the State of Montana plans to make funds available to Consortiums (such as the Big Sky 11 Consortium) to address the issues of inter-agency communications. The State has also indicated that part of the grant funds may be used to hire a Grant Manager at the State Level to manage funding allocations to the Consortiums within the State. WMD Training Grant. Joe Marcotte reported that St. Vincent has received a grant for the continuation of WMD training, with the focus on training personnel to the awareness / recognition level.	FY 05 Grant status WMD Training
Committee Reports	CAER/Citizens Corps [Pam Sanderson, Chair] Pam Sanderson reported that the ‘Day of Caring’, September 15, 2005 was very well received. United Way Volunteers distributed approximately 1500 brochures. P.R.I.D.E. Day at Rimrock Mall was also well received. Agencies who participated in the event reported that they distributed most or all of their information. Thank you to John Puckett for his efforts in having the Billings Gazette include a reproduction of the LEPC brochure in a recent edition of the Billings Gazette. J
	Unified Health Command [Dr. Doug Moore] The annual ‘flu shot’ immunizations program is underway. The ‘bird-flu’ pandemic threat is making the news.
	Medical Reserve Corps [Amy Roscoe] Jim Kraft reported that while the Medical Reserve Corp still exists, the funding for the Coordinator position has ended with the completion of the Grant.
	Communications Committee [Alan Riley, Chair] Alan Riley reported that the Communications Committee has been very active. Demos from Link Communications and Macom have been completed. The Macom solution was reported to cost approximately $1.5 million. The RFP on Interoperability is done. Alan reported that the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office is exploring an alternative solution to interoperability problem appears to be resolved by cross banding and utilizing national interoperability frequencies in both the 800Mhz and VHF bands. Details on this simpler and less costly solution will be reported as information is obtained.

	Big Sky Consortium [Jim Kraft] Jim Kraft reported that the report from Federal Engineering was completed and presented to members of the Big Sky 11 Consortium. The report is also available on their website. Jim also reported that work on the TAC Interoperability Plan continues under the direction of Meridith Cox. One item under the plan is the Governance Structure for the Plan. The natural designee would be the Yellowstone County LEPC as the Governance Structure for the Plan with the individual agencies responsible for maintaining, housing of any equipment received under Grants awarded under the LEPC umbrella. The deadline for completion is May 2006.	Ystn County Website: co.yellowstone.mt.gov TAC Interoperability Plan - to contact Meridith via email: brittain@imt.net

New Business	Conference Committee [Michael Smith, Chair] The last portion of the meeting was a group discussion of the upcoming 2006 Safety Conference and topics to be presented. The Conference has been scaled back to a 2-day event so participation of LEPC agencies is critical for a successful conference. Volunteers are still needed.	2006 LEPC sponsored Safety Conf. Contact Michael Smith mssmith@mssc.org
Other Business	Education / Training for LEPC Members [Dr. Doug Moore] Hands on training for LEPC members, perhaps set aside the last hour or 1-1/2 hour of the meeting to invite speakers, presenters to do workshops for LEPC members in the areas of Incident Command, NIMS, WMD, EOC operations, etc. A Training subcommittee was formed with Charles Bonnett, ExxonMobil as the Chair. Member volunteers included Gary Workman, City of Billings-Pubic Works Water; Travis Lindskog, St. Vincent Healthcare; Dr. Doug Moore, City/County Health Department; Greg Neill, ConocoPhillips. The 1^st meeting of the Committee will be announced.	Training Committee status report. To volunteer to present / or serve on the Committee please contact Charles Bonnett, ExxonMobil at Charles.D.Bonnett@exxonmobil.com

Other Business	Emergency Shelter [Marv Jochems] Fire Chief Marv Jochems thanked everyone who assisted with /the location of resources and set up for the 2 Emergency Shelters established during the recent snowstorm / power outages. It was directly related to their hard work that within 2 hrs, shelters were established and the public was being directed to them.
	Debriefing Meeting – October 4^th Snowstorm The suggestion was made to invite responders or representatives, such as, NorthWestern Energy, MDU, Water Providers, Law Enforcement, Fire, Ambulance, 9-1-1 Center to the next LEPC meeting.	Debriefing Meeting

There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned.

The next meeting of the Yellowstone County LEPC is November 10, 2005 @ 1:30 p.m., Basement Training Room, Headquarters Fire Station; use the 2300 9^th Avenue North entrance.

Kathy E. Gibson

Recording Secretary/LEPC

gibsonk@ci.billings.mt.us

406-237-6223 phone

406-657-8456 fax