NORTHBOROUGH LOCAL EMERGENCY PLANNING COMMITTEE (NLEPC) MEETING MINUTES
March 24, 2009 10:00 A.M. Northborough Fire Department 11 Pierce Street Northborough, MA 01532
Chief Durgin called the meeting to order at 10:04 a.m. and introduced himself, John Coderre, Kimberly Hood newly appointed Assistant Town Administrator, and Nancy Lepore, Fire Department Hazardous Materials Assistant. Meeting participants introduced themselves to attendees. A paper copy of the NLEPC Hazardous Materials Plan (Hazmat Plan), all 2007 Tier II Emergency and Hazardous Chemical forms, the annual legal ad and MA Department of Conservation and Recreation Hop Brook Dam flooding maps were available for viewing.
Old Business - Copies of the 10/09/09 meeting minutes were available for attendees. A motion was made, seconded, to forgo a reading of these meeting minutes, and was passed by a majority vote of attendees. A motion was then made, seconded, and passed by a majority of attendees to accept the meeting minutes as written.
Mr. Darling asked about the MA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation Flood Plans, specifically, inclusion of the railroad trestle near Juniper Hill Golf Course for its effect on flooding. An answer to the question was unavailable at that time.
Review of planning information received to date – Ms. Lepore relayed that all 2008 reporting year Tier II forms have been submitted by the 16 EPCRA facilities in town, with some including Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). Site plans and Emergency Action Plans (EAP) were submitted by some facilities. Facility plans including Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plans (SPCC) and EAP held by the LEPC are being reviewed. Facilities with plans older than one year will be asked to review their plans and submit updated plans and/or updated contact lists as necessary.
Facilities will also be asked over the next several months to submit a list of on-site HAZMAT emergency response resources and trained personnel in order to update the HAZMAT Plan.
Ms. Lepore explained that Tier II submission help is available through the NLEPC. The Tier II Submit program is issued by the EPA yearly and must be downloaded for facility data input. Tier II reports must be submitted in the Complete Report Style rather than the original style per Commonwealth of MA requirments. The Complete Report style includes more information necessary to emergency planning such as maximum poundage of substances for the largest vessel.
Review of Emergency Plans to date – The information within the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) and the HAZMAT Plan was brought up to date with respect to town resources and facilities, private facilities, special locations, EPCRA facilities, and critical infrastructure. Training schedules were updated in the plan. These updates were logged into the eCEMP (Electronic Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan). Both plans were then downloaded from the eCEMP website and CDs of both plans were made for named plan recipients. Additionally, both plans were
downloaded onto several town computers and three copies of both plans were printed for emergency services. Both plans were first submitted to the Board of Selectmen for their review. The Head of the Board of Selectmen accepted the plans on behalf of the town on 1/26/09. Plan paper copies and CDs were subsequently distributed to Town Officials.
Ms. Lepore explained that there were several glitches with the MEMA eCEMP website causing some data to not display in downloaded plans and that there was a “work-around” to have these input lists of data displayed correctly when downloaded. Currently, some maps are not downloading correctly because of an incompatibility with newer Adobe Reader versions. The maps are current on the eCEMP website and can be viewed correctly. The maps for the town currently downloaded were double-checked and are correct.
Members were asked to review these plans and comment if needed changes are found.
It was explained that as new information is received, the plan is updated on the eCEMP website on a regular basis and downloaded to town computers. CDs are burned again and updated pages of the paper copies of the plans are copied which are then distributed to Town Officials when significant changes are made to the plans.
Public Outreach - The tri-fold display for the LEPC was on display at town hall for two weeks in October. The display was at the Northborough U.S. Post Office in December for 2 weeks and last week it was displayed in the clubhouse of Juniper Hill Golf Course. This display now includes a one-page handout on EPCRA and the role of the LEPC in the community. Channel 11 posted a notice for a series of EPA sponsored workshops for educating businesses needing to comply with EPCRA (Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act). The EPA video “LEPC – Guarding the Safety of Your Community” was also run on channel 11 in January. Other outreach efforts include a legal notice placed in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette for the end of March for the availability of LEPC
information in Northborough. In addition, meetings are posted in the Town Clerk’s Office public bulletin board.
New Business – Ms. Lepore mentioned that MEMA has finalized the Local Animal Care Annex template that will be part of the CEMP. Claudia McGuire, town Dog Officer, reported that the Northborough Emergency Animal Rescue Team she chairs has taken the template and is tailoring it for Northborough’s needs. She also reported that NEART membership is down considerably. Lastly, she mentioned that she attended a meeting of local animal control Officers where a topic of discussion was forming a mutual aid agreement for professional animal control officers to assist communities in the agreement with animal control in an emergency to assist beyond what untrained citizen volunteers could provide.
John Coderre suggested that a pamphlet could be sent to townspeople so they would have pertinent information available to them prior to an emergency including for example: emergency contact phone numbers, websites, town shelter identification, and access to emergency broadcast systems. He said that Ms. Terry, Town Health Agent, was working on this.
Mr. Coderre also suggested that the LEPC could have an active page within the town website to keep the public informed of its activities.
A citizen asked if planning was in place for obtaining prescription drugs during an emergency. A general concern is that health insurance companies restrict prescriptions for 30 days at a time which could necessitate alternate sources for obtaining essential medications during an extended emergency such as was seen during Hurricane Katrina. Chief Durgin explained that currently this issue was not in emergency plans but every effort would be made to assist citizens with obtaining essential medications such as through contacting local hospitals. He mentioned also that there is awareness of this problem at the state and national level and talks are in place to find mechanisms to assist the public with obtaining essential medications during a prolonged emergency.
Mr. Swee from the Northborough Cable Commission asked if the LEPC was aware of the need for alternate power sources for residential phones during emergencies with power outages due to the change in technology of telephone services such as through FIOs, cable and internet technology. General discussion included educating the public about the alternate power needs for individual phone systems and educating the public on ways to solve the lack of supplied electric power during prolonged power outages. Also, power for cell phones was an issue for people without car chargers and additionally, all cell phone towers have a limited backup supply of power to maintain services.
Chief Durgin discussed the December 2008 Ice Storm and mentioned that the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was opened during the storm due to the damages and extensive power outages around town especially the South Street area and Ball Hill. A decision was made to open the Melican Middle School as a shelter for residents without power and heat. The power outages limited town communications with the public by the loss of the Reverse 911 system capability to inform that public that the shelter was open. Citizens at the Northborough Housing Authority facilities were notified door-to-door by emergency services personnel about the availability of the shelter. Power outages to town hall also affected the capability for town officials to use and access computers not served by the town hall generator for needed programs
and contact lists. Power outages also affected access to Cable TV for town officials to monitor broadcasts of weather and storm damages to the region.
With respect to the shelter at the Melican Middle School, the American Red Cross was unable to send personnel or cots to assist the town with shelter operations due to the widespread damages from the storm, thus allocating their resources in the Worcester area which was the hardest hit by the storm. Members of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trained in Shelter Management and Operations volunteered and manned the shelter. Senior Center bus drivers were called in to man the Senior Center buses for standby to transport residents without transportation to the shelter.
Brian Sullivan from Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) told members that recovery from the storm has been slow. Lessons learned showed that the Planning and the Financial sections of the Incident Command System were in place for a storm like this but the logistics of response for this storm across Massachusetts was overwhelmed. A lack of volunteers also contributed to slow recovery in the area. He mentioned that having a pharmaceutical plan and animal plan in place would help with future long-term emergencies. Debris Management has been a huge part of the recovery from this storm and is still ongoing. Lastly, he said that an After Action Report (AAR) is being written about this storm including all problems encountered around the state.
The meeting adjourned at 11:20 A.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Lepore, Coordinator
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