2016-01-05 Regular Meeting r� Kodiak Island Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC)
Emergency Services Organization (ESO) -
Quarterly Meeting
January 5,2016 Quarterly Meeting 1:30 p.m.-Borough Assembly Chambers
Welcome And Introductions
CHAIR MULLICAN called to order the January 5, 2016 Local Emergency Planning Committee&
Emergency Services Organization Quarterly Meeting at 1:30 p.m.
Attendance
Members Present: Others Present:
Jerrol Friend Priscilla Dawson
Eric Olsen Sally Donnan
Jim Mullican Mary Guilas-Hawver
Darsha Spalinger Debra Marlar
Tom Trosvig Bill Morrow
Stacy Studebaker Bob Tucker
Mike Dolph Jocene Warnecke
Rich Cherkauer Monique Lewis
Ann Ellingson Sara Mason
Rhonda Wallace Chief Rue, Bayside Fire Dept.
Elsa DeHart Jack Maker
Drew Herrman Aimee Kniaziowski
Kathrynn Hollis-Buchanan
A quorum was established
Recognition of Voting Members
Approval of Minutes
a. June 30,2015 Regular Meeting
b. October 27,2015 Regular Meeting
Jerrol Friend MOVED to approve the June 30,2015 and the October 27, 2015 minutes.
VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
Approval of Agenda
Aimee Kniaziowski MOVED to approve the agenda. RE El ED
VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
Public Comment
None
Reports of Sub-Committees
None WUROI)GH CUMICS OFFICE
KODIAK
Old Business
a. Incident Command System(ICS)Training(Jack Maker)
Jack Maker stated if anyone read the Chiniak Fire After Action Report and the article in the paper it
points out that we don't have the depth we need on our Incident Management Team. He stated we are in
need of people to get up to speed with ICS trainings, which are online,and he's included an email with all
the links.
Jim Mullican gave a report on ICS training that builds on itself.The ICS 100 class is the baseline class
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that helps you learn how the system works.As you progress up you learn more. You have to take 100,
200,700, 800,and then you go back to take 300 and 400.The 300 class is a formal classroom setting in a
group. He explained the process of the trainings. In these incidents, we stand up the EOC and deal with
the entire community. We need to have people ready when these incidents happen.
New Business
a. Chiniak Fire Brief(Chief Mullican&Jack Maker)
Jim Mullican stated it was quite the incident. A wild land fire of any size on Kodiak is unusual.A wild
land fire on the road system is unheard of but that was the perfect storm that showed up so to speak. Lack
of rain and heavy winds dried everything out and then all we needed was that spark. He hasn't been
informed yet what the State Inspectors are saying caused the fire, he hasn't received the report yet so he
can't say what caused it. It started in the Twin Creek area back off the road system. We were notified
about 9:30 p.m.that there was a significant event going on in Chiniak. He went out to Deadman's Curve
to look out across to see what we were dealing with. When we stand up the EOC we have maps in a room
but you want to get the pulse of what you are looking at before you get into that because it helps to know
how large it is and how fast it's moving. He realized it was big so he contacted Aimee Kniaziowski,the
Emergency Services Director to let her know of this event so she came to Deadman's to see. We started
the recall to stand up the EOC, shortly after we came together and came up with a basic plan. It was an
incident in a location and of a size that initial response as in fire units to go put fire out was never an
option.This was a public safety issue. Later we needed to get people out of the area.There was nothing
we could do to stop it,and all we could do was go to Iife safety. From there we were thinking of how to
get people out so we got buses and put medics on each of the buses. We also sent out an advanced life
support ambulance with the crew to help get people out. Womens Bay Fire Department crew also went
out that could feed back information for where it was safe for the people to go once we got set up and
started the evacuation.The Chiniak Post Office was the best place to set up since the fire was moving in
the other direction. We didn't transport anyone,everybody who came out was able to go out in their own
vehicles. In town, we opened up the shelter at the middle school to put people up,we opened up the City
Animal Shelter for people's pets,and we set up at the fairgrounds for livestock or larger animals. Our
response revolved around getting information out,getting people a place to stay,and taking care of their
animals. We didn't get through that initial response phase until about 3 or 4 am.That was when we had
our first written incident action plan. From there the fire moved to where we lost sight of where the head
of the fire was. It burned out towards the old airport and then turned south.
b. Emergency Preparedness Conference Brief(Chief Mullican and Tom Trosvig)
Tom Trosvig stated he attended the Fall Preparedness Conference because Maker was overwhelmed so he
took his place. It was three days of general conference and then one day dedicated to the LEPC itself.The
first three days were full days, and very structured.The topics covered were managing the media during a
crisis situation,dealing with State and Federal Homeland Security, Red Cross and Disaster Assistance
Programs, bomb construction materials,types of illicit drugs and other types of crime problems in Alaska,
cyber threats,available health and social service assistance,Homeland Security Grant applications,
response to aviation and terrestrial disasters,risk assessment for possible threats, and security threats to
critical infrastructure.They really dwelled on cyber threats but to he doesn't fully understand them but he
knows they are a moving target so we should be aware of anything that might be happening with the
internet.The morning of the fourth day was dedicated solely to LEPC's and in the afternoon it was the
State Emergency Response Commission. In the morning we went over a lot of things that would affect
LEPC's. Some of the things he took away from it that might be critical with regard to infrastructure,
security, or even drug or criminal activity was it's important to report all suspicious activities to
responsible authorities. Kodiak is ahead of most communities when it comes to disaster planning with our
Comprehensive Emergency Plan and our community outreach effort. Another thing brought up was that
we,as Alaskans live on the tail end of a complex food and supply chain.All Kodiak residents should have
emergency rations and other supplies on hand because if the ships or planes are prohibited from landing
due to major disaster our local supplies will diminish in a matter of days.The Kenai LEPC worked with
Kodiak Island Borough LEPC on the recent Chiniak wildfire and they desire to maintain close relations
with Kodiak because we share many of the same disaster possibilities.To become more relevant, the
SERC have decided that instead of having a semi-annual conference that they would actually have one
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once a year on the six month,the other six months they would come out to the LEPC's and actually
provide training and interaction with our LEPC.
Mullican stated he took classes on cyber threats and understands it more of what they were talking about.
The primary focus was KEA for instance, KEA controls everything through a complex computer network
that is proprietary, it's their own system. What they are talking about in the cyber threat is someone
hacking into that system whether via the internet or hard hack, in other words go find a transmission line
and actually cut the transmission line up to get into the system.They can create havoc, shut down power,
take out whatever the computer controls at the dam, and that sort of thing. We need to ensure that we are
taking steps to protect the system as much as possible.
Maker stated,with regards to cyber-attacks, last fall he and Paul Van Dyke(IT Supervisor)attended last
spring's conference that went through two days of cyber security. It isn't just how you can hack into
systems and tweek the dam. One scenario given was hospital records were hacked into,they sought out
employees that worked at the City Water Treatment Plant and got information to blackmail them into
introducing too much chemicals into the water that caused chemical burns.They are going to happen and
be underway before they are caught. If you run into something where your computer system is hacked,
report it because there might be two or three other systems getting hacked and pretty soon you are putting
two and two together and say what could happen.
Maker stated he will cover the grant later and we have a lot of money to spend. Usually by now we have
spent considerably more.A lot of that is funding and paying his wages for that conference. One person is
automatically paid for by the State and the next conference is April 29,2016. We can utilize LEPC funds
to send one other voting member on the LEPC. If the chair would entertain a motion to fund travel
expenses for an LEPC voting member to the next Emergency Preparedness Conference not to exceed
$2500.
Kathryn Hollis-Buchannan MOVED to utilize LEPC funds to send one LEPC member to the next
Emergency Preparedness Conference not to exceed$2500.
VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
c. Local Emergency Planning Committee Association Meeting Brief(Tom Trosvig)
Covered above.
d. October 10,2015 Fire Prevention Open House Brief(Chief Mullican and Jack Maker)
Jim Mullican stated on October 10,2015 the City Fire Station held our Fire Prevention Open House for
the first time. We had over five hundred people attend and there was a myriad of things for people to do
and get engaged in.There were things for the kids to do to teach them fire prevention;the fire
extinguisher prop,games for them but tailored to get them use to the fire fighters and medics so they
won't be scared in a real situation. Maker set up for emergency preparedness to get that information out
and Bill Morrow had the Red Cross stuff set up which they help us with our shelters and home
preparedness things and getting out so we could install smoke detectors and things of that nature free of
charge into people's residences.They just go through the Red Cross to sign up for it and then the fire
service area should be responsible for that area would go into their homes to install them.
Jim Mullican said it's important to get the villages involved heavily especially in those outlying villages
that don't have large fire response that if something goes down it's get out of the house fast. Early
notification really pays in the end.
Mullican said at the open house we had representatives from all the fire departments so it wasn't just the
city. It was a lot of fun.
e. FY2016 LEPC Grant Brief(Jack Maker)
Maker stated the this year's grant,we were funded at the same level as last year although it went up
slightly. It was$13,900 last year and this year's total grant award was$14,343. We are in the beginning
of our third quarter and we spent approximately$1,000 which most of that has been staff time for grant
management and report writing. We have over$13,000 to spend. He'll address possible ways of spending
that money shortly.
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f. Local Media Emergency Preparedness Advertising Campaign(Jack Maker)
Maker stated he'd like to propose that the LEPC pursue a local media Emergency Preparedness
advertising campaign using our local radio stations and local newspaper.A lot of information we can pull
right off of the DHS&EM website;what to do in an earthquake,tsunami,and preparing your seven day
emergency kit.There's a lot of good information that we can get out there and we have the opportunity
with this much money to pursue that. if the voting members do approve a motion he's going to seek input
from the voting members and everyone on the LEPC list for topics. We need to do a better job at getting
the word out there
Jerrol Friend MOVED to expend up to$2,000 on a local media emergency preparedness advertising
campaign.
VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
g. Use of LEPC funds for LEPC Member Attendance at the Spring Emergency Preparedness Conference
(Jack Maker)
Maker stated the open house at the fire station,one of the biggest grabs that we have right now is the
disaster videos that we play on a 42"flat screen TV. It grabs people's attention and gets them over to the
booth.Other things that other LEPC's have is the wheel of disaster, it's a kid's interactive thing which if
you get the kids there you will get the parents there. It's like the wheel of fortune with different disasters
on it,they answer a question about that disaster,such as what to do in an earthquake.All of the answers
are in the background if they look around they are hanging up. Those types of things for these outreach
events that we have will be a draw. We need something since we can't get the earthquake simulator every
year,and the earthquake simulator was fantastic because we got tons of people come through our booth.
We used the IT Department's flat screen TV last year and the year before at the Crab Fest and,
unfortunately,something happened to it last year and they won't loan him a TV anymore. A new TV
could be purchased using LEPC funds, we'll keep the box,we can transport it and don't have to worry
about damaging it. Primarily it will be used at our outreach events. We have a base setup of disaster
videos from all the different tsunamis,earthquakes,avalanches,news clips,and that sort of things..
Jerrol Friend MOVED to expend up to$600 to purchase a large flat screen TV to be used for disaster
preparedness presentations throughout the year.
VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
h. Interactive Emergency Preparedness Training Aids(Jack Maker)
Maker said he will contact the wood shop at the high school to see if they would be willing to make the
wheel of fortune a project and put it together for us. We would pay for the materials.
Drew Herrman stated the Baptist Mission and Island Trails Network also have woodshops that they could
also do something like that.
Darsha Spalinger MOVED to expend up to$500 for materials to construct portable interactive
emergency preparedness training aids.
VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
i. Use of LEPC Funds to fly Incident Command System and Red Cross Instructors to Villages(Jack
Maker)
Jim Mullican stated one thing we need to think about is that we have villages throughout the island who
are in desperate need of ICS training and the like. He is one of the primary instructors for the ICS
training. We could go out to do the training but we also need to come up with funding to pay for the
airfare and stuff to get out there. Some people are computer apt and some people are not computer
oriented. We can teach those classes in a classroom event so they get the information,get it at a speed
they understand link them together and cover the same information for the different ICS courses.
Maker stated the villages have asked if there is any way we could help them. He doesn't know if we can
use LEPC funds for this purpose but he does have feelers out with DHS&EM and they haven't gotten
back to him.Not only for ICS training but for Red Cross instructors to fly to the villages for a shelter or
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first aid class. If we can use these funds he thinks we need to pay more attention to our outlying cities and
villages.
Jerrol Friend stated the Regional Forum is coming up and that would be a good process for you to make a
presentation.They may be able to stay in town a day or two. You would have all the villages in one spot
at one time.That might be the best venue for you, it would be cheaper,and you have the people here.Get
a hold of Robbie Townsend to see if that would work for you.
Mullican agreed with Friend but it could be a two-pronged process so maybe we could get more people to
come.One of the benefits of flying out there is showing that we do care, we do want to be there to help.
We want to ensure that they are caring for themselves and we can back them up when they need it.
Eric Olsen stated some other considerations for the villages, he likes the idea of going out to the villages
because it shows them that we do care and they are not isolated.The internet in the villages is slow, in
addition the State is losing money so our villages no longer have the position paid for anymore so we are
losing VPSO's. Several villages have vacancies so when they don't have law enforcement presence it
does go back to the community to stand up and take part in that. He agrees with both ideas.
Mullican said we can get with the organizers to find out if there is a way to extend some time or even if
it's not a full class we can gain some time to sit down to do a basic presentation.There is a lot of
information we can combine down to give them so they glean as much out of it in a short time.
j. LEPC Village Representatives(Jack Maker)
Maker stated he will be pursuing or contacting the villages to encourage them to get a village
representative that won't necessarily be a voting member at this time to teleconference in to the meetings.
They could also coordinate a location and perhaps get other people within the village to listen to the
meetings to see what we are doing.
2. Future Business for Discussion
a. Other items of interest for the good of the order(Open Reports)
Maker stated we will do the Emergency Preparedness booth at CrabFest and will coordinate with the Red
Cross again to share that booth and try to get other agencies in there also. He'll start organizing that event
and will be seeking volunteers to do two,three, or four hour shifts in the booth. He's also considering of
forming a committee which he can do through email. If anyone is interested let him know.
Mullican stated we are looking to bring the Emergency Services Council together in the near future so we
can look at approving our Emergency Operations Plan that is in draft form for a while. The Emergency
Services Director sent copies out to everyone quite a while ago. We will need to get everyone together to
formally accept that so we could get rid of the big book and go down to the much smaller and more
manageable book for our Operations Plans.
Monique Lewis asked on the ICS training, will the 300 and 400 classes be only available to LEPC or
other members of the community also.
Mullican said once people have their 1,2, 7,and 8 we will put the word out that we are going to hold the
class.The information just needs to be brought through. If you have people that you know need it you'll
get his email on the list, he puts it together,they'll have an application to fill out,and they will have to
furnish their ICS certificates for the 1,2,7,and 8. He will go up to 25 people and when the list is full we
are done. If we don't fill the list we'll go until it is filled.
Monique Lewis stated as far as Fire Preventions Programs, have you thought about putting together a
rural program for the residents of Chiniak and Pasagshak where there is no fire service but there are
things that they could be doing to protect themselves, prepare,know that when the Fire Department
comes out and asks them to evacuate there's a reason for it,and those types of things.
Mullican said he thinks that could work into some of the advertising that we're talking about.The State
Forestry has a Fire Wise Program that is specifically deals with how far to keep brush cut back from the
home and that kind of thing would help insulate homes against wild fires.
Monique Lewis also stated for the possibility of maybe a professional exercise facilitation and design
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service to get a full-scale exercise going for some of the things that you talked about,and tsunami sirens
for Chiniak and Pasagshak area we can't hear the sirens here in town. She knows there use to be one at
the library but it never really worked or at the school has never really worked either.Just a thought for the
videoconferencing the ICS training for the villages,the schools probably have better internet than the
individual homes or community buildings because they use videoconferencing to teach the kids so that
may be an option for teaching the adults too.
Mullican said as far as the tsunami sirens in Chiniak and Pasagshak, he knows they are there but if they
are not functioning that information needs to be fed back to us. There are a few people in the audience
who are taking notes to make sure we.
Bob Tucker,Engineering& Facilities Director, stated that is already in the works and we do have some
grant funding so as long as it runs through. We have a couple of sirens that aren't working and that grant
funding is supposed to go towards repairing those sirens. It's in the works,the boxes are here,the
assessments have been done,and so we are going to move forward with that. We'll go as far as the money
goes.
Mullican said as far as the large scale drills,we have the Alaska Shield, it's run every two years and they
are large scale drills. We have one coming up in 2016.The State selects the venue for what that particular
one is. We did one two years ago and it revolved around earthquakes and tsunamis to commemorate the
64' event.This one coming up is a terrorist/cyber-attack. He's one of the primary planners for it, we have
things going on, and typically in those situations the EOC is heavily involved in those drills.The boots on
the ground drill that's going to take place is a much smaller venue.The selection has been made for the
event to bring it into some real world context that would fit our community.
Lewis stated(inaudible).
Mullican said the training itself revolves around the responders themselves;what we're going to do,how
we're going to respond to it,whether we're doing like the previous one,the 64' event commemoration we
stood the EOC up for many hours and ran through constant input saying OK,now this building is taken
out,this is going on,here comes the wave, and they respond to that in there. The boots on the ground,we
were holding a shelter drill at the same time, Providence was holding a mass casualty drill at the same
time,and then in Emergency Services we were doing a building collapse where we actually had to go
done to move large blocks of cement so we could get mannequins that were crushed, and that type of
thing. We work those through community members,that's where the advertising will come into play
heavily to what do we want our community to do when these things happen. Volunteer and that was
something dealing with the Chiniak fire.Tremendous outpouring by our community,a lot of people
coming forward with bedrooms for people and things of that nature. What it really brought up is the need
for a volunteer coordinator to help bring those people together so we can get them all in one location and
be able to say we need X number of bodies to do this, here's the list to call these people up and meet us at
Safeway in two hours.They'll meet to check in,then they go out into the field kind of thing. We want the
community involved. Most of these drills we don't bring the normal community members in to take part
in it because they are not trained in how to deal with it as opposed to letting them know,keeping
themselves ready,storm ready,tsunami ready,earthquake ready,have their food stuffs in their house so
they can survive for that seven days,make sure they have their water,enough prescription medications so
to cover them over a period of time,and stuff of that nature. Know what to do when the tsunami siren
goes off. That's where that active advertising program would pay a lot of dividends. We are going to have
to had wildland fires into it.
Maker pointed out one of the things we got out of our After Action Meeting for the Chiniak fire was that
we need to get back up to speed on our quarterly Table Top Exercises for the Incident Management Team
and the EOC. We will be making an effort to ensure that that happens on a quarterly basis. We haven't
had an exercise for a while and when you have Alaska Shield he,as Planning Chief will go review all of
his materials and he'll be prepped when he knows it's coming.The Chiniak fire really caught everyone by
surprise and he thinks everyone was a little rusty and we had to get into the books and just re-familiarize
ourselves with everything. It takes some discipline to keep on top of that all the time without these Table
Top Exercises.Table Top Exercises will better prepare us for the next event.
Public Comment
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Stacy Studebaker stated that she wants to revisit the question about the Pasagshak tsunami siren.
She's a Pasagshak property owner who spends a lot of time there. One of the most familiar topics
of discussion whether or not the tsunami siren actually works out there. She wants to know how
we can find out when it is functional for sure,that would be really helpful.
Bob Tucker stated presently it is not functioning. There's an issue to get power to it from where
it is. With the power we thought we had permission and now we don't have permission so there's
an issue with trying to actually get it hooked up and operational, not only the connection from
town but electrical power as well. There's a couple of issues with that one. It is not operational.
Maker said when it does become operational we can use our webpage and facebook page to get
the information out. As an LEPC member, we will let you know and you can pass the word too.
Social media usually touches someone who will tell others.
Stacy Studebaker stated there is a Property Owner's Association in Pasagshak so if Maker could
let her know she can let the association know(inaudible).
Jim Mullican stated one of the things in the after action report was the need for the EOC to
develop its own Nixie alerts and that way when people in Chiniak see the Nixie alert it would say
the Emergency Services Organization or Emergency Operations Center so it would help alleviate
some people asking why is KPD telling me I have to leave my home. If it's coming from the
EOC, it's a different venue and has that authority. We could also get the tsunami alerts and
chemical alerts out with directions as to what to do as well. The radio stations come up online to
assist with those situations also. We have multiple ways of getting the information out. We are
trying to work with the system we have and we have to find the finances to fix the rest of it.
Maker stated borough staff is looking at what value of having our own Nixie account and what it
could provide the borough because. The road systems could put out information, we could put
out information for example, only temporary parking on borough roadways due to the fact that
parking on borough roadways has on snow removal, and just messages like that. We're still
looking into it.
Drew Herrman stated when you are talking about the ICS recruitment and training, do you mean
outside of the public employees. Are you looking to get the general public to be looking at that
stuff?
Maker stated right now, LEPC membership would be a welcome addition. We do have Coast
Guard people that are trained in the ICS also. If we had a large event we would be tapping
everybody that we could.
? stated about two years ago, the Coast Guard Auxiliary nationwide required members to get at
least the 100 level and it's been a struggle implementing that. Locally,eventually we got good
coverage by posting a volunteer at the library a couple times a month. It's one thing to say you
can get the training,go online to do it, and a lot of people like having the hand holding and it has
made a big difference with pretty good compliance that way. It's something you might consider.
Just make available to whoever needs it and say we'll have someone sitting there at a certain
time, drop by and we'll lead you through it. It really did help to get our numbers up.
Maker stated, with regards to the ICS 100,200, 700, and 800 courses, he and Mullican are big
advocates of if there's any way we can make it mandatory for city and borough employees. Right
now the City and Borough Managers are very supportive. For the borough,we allow them to
take these courses during working hours in their office. Without making it mandatory we would
have to find people that have an interest in it and those are the types of people that we're looking
for that actually are willing to look into it because those are the types of people that are going to
stay involved in it and want to be there. Maker could get information out there in our advertising
campaign.
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Kyle Crow stated he has reviewed the Response Plan and he has quite a bit of background in this
area with all the ICS training,and some experience involved in that with the Coast Guard. He
has some concerns with the fundamental makeup of the organization and how it is structured and
he is looking forward to learning more about it, taking a good look at that and whether it is in the
best interest of the borough to continue to function with 100% reliance on the city to head this
organization. Especially when it involves the villages and larger areas. In his experience and
background, this is not a critique but just a comment, that someone such as yourself in your
position would function as a basic and essential resource but rather than the lead with these big
events. You have a lot of work to do with a lot of responsibility; you are an operational resource
and a very valuable, essential one. The way he is seeing it operating is you have been basically
placed in a lead slot, in a leadership position which he believes should be an elected official and
not a bureaucratic position. He says bureaucratic, not with any derogatory content but more of a
definition.
Aimee Kniaziowski stated regarding Crow's comments, the borough and the city code require
the City Manager and she doesn't know how long ago that was decided it would be the City
Manager would be responsible for that but the big joke was that the city had the guns and trucks,
we had the resources to put toward it. It's always been that way. If that's something the elected
officials themselves in the code, that's certainly fine. She's never heard of an elected official
leading the Emergency Services Center but it doesn't mean it couldn't be looked at here if that's
what the community wanted. From a city perspective, it puts a great deal of strain and she thinks
Maker and other borough officials would agree that we spend hundreds and hundreds of hours in
training in doing this. This is truly an auxiliary thing for us, but we've been trained and
committed to doing it and it's worked alright. We just don't have the depth that we need for
community members so this is a good organization that we can pull from, people that are
committed like Tom Trosvig and people from that kind of background that are willing to get the
appropriate training and step up to help backfill some of those positions, but it is in both codes
and has been there for a long time. She does know from her attendance at the Preparedness
Conferences, it's an unusual situation, most boroughs have a paid position that handles it, not an
elected, but a paid position, or an office like the Kenai Peninsula Borough. It takes money. She
doesn't know what the answer is, it's an unusual situation in Kodiak.
Maker stated the system we have now does work, it gives us a larger pool, it gives us what depth
we have without the joint City/Borough IMT and Emergency Operations Center. We just
wouldn't be able to do it and he re-emphasized what Mullican just said, we've ramped up the
EOC for actual events at least four or five times in the last three years as well as for AIaska
Shield and table top exercises. If you want to see the city and borough work together that's
probably best venue you will see, it is seamless and flawless, no questions asked, everybody gets
along. The stress level in our EOC, the way we work together, is low and that was one of the
positive comments we got from the Alaska Shield Exercise.
Kyle Crow said the only issue he has is that the authority that is placed in a non-elected official,
the overriding authority, and the overriding responsibility. In his experience, for example in the
Coast Guard Base Kodiak, the commanding officer is the lead and the largest issues he doesn't
have all that training and relies heavily on his experts;the Fire Chief and the Marine Safety
Detachment, now that would be the role of what our Fire Chief is doing here. In this particular
case we have placed all that authority on a non-elected official and if you look at the Emergency
Response Plan,that authority has the authority to impose law, to create law on the fly without
any committees or anything else in a worst case scenario.That is where he believes the highest
elected official,and his suggestion would be the Borough Mayor be placed in that position to be
able to observe and make those tough calls rather than a hired staff position. He's not saying that
that person would be in the lead position would have the experience or all the training and
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participate in all the training events but that he occupy that position as a figure in the Response
Plan and that he has overriding authority. Crow thinks the mayor is in the best position to make
those leadership calls when the big events happen. Quite obviously, Crow is sure he would be in
a real life situation deferring a great deal of that day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute,
operational supervision and direction to be coming from his appointed staff members that do
have those qualifications and tools.
Mullican said he brought up some good points and he encouraged Crow to attend some of the
trainings. We talk about the Emergency Operations Plan. You are correct,the Emergency
Services Director does have a lot of administrative power but that's backed up by the Emergency
Services Council which the mayors are on and has to approve any kind of law that you are
talking about. That has to be done through them and then the sidebar to them is bringing in the
elected officials, and the elected officials work with the Emergency Services Council who gives
direction to the Emergency Services Director.That's how the system is designed. The Chiniak
Fre, for instance, was a very fast moving, very much still in a response mechanism until the
forestry people got here so we never got down to the event where any of that stuff needed to be
brought in to bring in the Emergency Services Council to bring in the council and assemblies to
have their input through the proper chain of command to give direction to the Emergency
Services Director so they can then disseminate them out amongst the different organizations and
assignments. They do have input there, it's not that you have one person who's essentially the
king or queen of the whole command. There is venues that are brought stuff into it but there has
to be a single point of control to render out aid. Again here the Emergency Operations Center
typically (inaudible)the Incident Commander. In this instance because it was a single point
incident, it's unusual for the EOC to step up to that position and that's what we did in this
Chiniak fire. The primary focus of the EOC is to make sure that everyone gets what they need, in
the order that's set down by the Emergency Services Director who receives direction from the
Emergency Services Council during these longer and larger events. The elected officials
absolutely have input into these but the elected official inside running the EOC, he doesn't know
of any in the State of Alaska that has an elected official inside their EOC. They have their
positions in either the Emergency Services Council or they have a position in the elected
official's body that brings information to the Emergency Services Council.
Next Meeting
b. April 5,2016
c. Next LEPCAISERC Meetings—April 29, 2016
d. Next Division of Homeland Security& Emergency Management(DHS&EM)Bi-annual
Preparedness Conference—To Be Determined
Adjournment
Mayor Jerol Friend MOVED to adjourn.
VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
CHAIR MULLICAN adourned t, meeting at 2:53 p.m.
KODIAK IS AND lROUG
LOQ,, E �-,RG RY PLA " COMMITTEE
By:
Ji ulli n, Chair
PPROVED: May 3, 2 l6
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