New Hanover County LEPC Minutes 2.25.2015New Hanover County LEPC
Meeting Minutes – February 25, 2015 @ NH Co EOC
The following persons signed the roster indicating they were in attendance:
NAME BUSINESS NAME BUSINESS
Kevin Cowan NC State Ports Gary Koster Red Cross
Mike Alexander VoPak Allan Turner Corning
Steven Still NH Co EM Eric Griffin UNCW
Ryan Gay NC DOT Darnell Boyd NH Co HD
David Powell NC EM Mark Lewis Airgas
Tommy Grady NH Co Sheriff Scott Carrick Airgas
John Steinauer IEM Inc Ginny Brinkman NH Co
Eric Hatcher CFPUA Mike Bruton Invista
Heidi Cox NCDENR - PWSS Teresa Smith NH Co EM
Welcome and Introductions:
The 1st quarter meeting, held at the NH Co EOC, was called to order at approximately 1201 PM with introductions and
lunch sponsored by New Hanover County Emergency Management following. After lunch, the LEPC reconvened at
12:24 PM. The agenda continued with membership announcements, followed by the review and approval of the
November 12th, 2014 meeting minutes at approximately 12:30 PM, and continued with an open forum.
Membership Announcements:
New Hanover County Health is planning a county-wide exercise on June 25th at the Cape Fear Community College
(CFCC) North Campus.
Red Cross is partnering with Carolina Beach Fire Department to install fire alarms this coming weekend to residents
at no cost. Funding was provided by a grant so volunteers are welcome to support the cause.
The USCG is planning port-wide security & safety training in the next~ 2 months. Scope typically varies but may
focus this time on contagious diseases
Open Forum
T Smith discussed LEPC basic voting functions. Currently 16 primary voting members exist, and there will be a
change in the primary voting member for the USCG. As a reminder if the primary voting member is not available,
the agency needs a proxy member for representation. Also, LEPC meeting minutes are now listed on the NH Co EM
website.
T Smith indicated this would be last month NH County EM would sponsor lunch, and since many of the
participating agencies cannot consistently sponsor lunch, there was a motion to move LEPC meeting start times to
11:00 without lunching. Motion was seconded and approved starting at the next meeting.
The HazMat Annex is not yet complete, but will be sent out once internal reviews by the EP&R subcommittee
complete.
Regarding Tier II update, submissions end March 2nd. All electronic submissions with POCs were identified for each
agency. As a reminder, invoicing has to be complete before an entities Tier II report will show up on E-Plan
Kevin Cowan discussed LEPC subcommittees and emphasized the EP&R subcommittee continues to make progress
on the HazMat Annex and the Executive Committee wants to reach out to private industry to promote LEPC
membership. While the LEPC currently meets all objectives of its charter, the LEPC could better itself and the
community by expanding the industry membership and support.
Volunteers were requested for a subcommittee for outreach/invitations to private industry. LEPC members D
Boyd, L Willis, J Jarvis stepped up to assist, and the USCG volunteered to contact maritime industry contacts.
State of NC HMEP Grant application information was discussed for future tabletop or actual exercise. While LEPC
has responsibility to implement, support was requested and received from Wilmington City and NH Co Fire
Departments to assist in proposing Grant funding. LEPC is challenge with only a 10-day window in the request
process to obtain NH Co commissioner approval if matching funds are required. USCG volunteered to support
scenario development, and a separate subcommittee was recommended to develop grant.
New Business
None
Lessons Learned
USCG has vessel in incubation period from an Ebola nation awaiting further processing by USCG and Customs. This
is normal protocol with no issues to address. Currently one person in NH Co and 28 people in NC are under an
Ebola watch.
LEPC
No additional items discussed; meeting was adjourned at 13:05
Next LEPC Meeting:
The next committee meeting will be held May 14, 2015, at 11:00 AM at the NH Co EOC. The main topic will be
Hurricane planning.
LEPC COMMITTEES
Executive Committee
Chairman – Kevin Cowan
Vice-Chairman – Ryan Gay
Secretary – Mark Venters
Emergency Planning & Response Sub-committee
Chairman – Elizabeth Meyer
Members - Eric Hatcher, Mike Alexander, Allen Turner, Mike Thompson, Frank Meyer
Community Education & Public Response sub-committee
Chairman – Diane Harvell
Members - Charles Smith, Justin West, Eric Griffin, Teresa Smith, Eric Hatcher, James Jarvis
Private Industry Outreach sub-committee
Chairman – TBD
Members – Darnell Boyd, Linda Willis, James Jarvis