New Hanover County LEPC Minutes 12.10.2019New Hanover County LEPC Meeting
December 10, 2019
New Hanover County EOC
The following persons signed the roster indicating they were in attendance:
NAME BUSINESS NAME BUSINESS
Mike Alexander Kinder Morgan Lisa Brown NHC Public Health
Stan Harts Withers Ravenel Eric Hatcher CFPUA
Billy Howard NHRMC EMS Steve Mason WFD
Frank Meyer NHC Fire & Rescue Alan Pytcher NCDOT
Josh Schieffer Duke Energy Ron Stancil Sturdy Corporation
Mark Venters GE Linda Willis NCDEQ
Randy Wright SR&R Patricia Keith ARC
Wayne Randolph NCDEQ Stephen Alexander SR&R
Adrienne Michalk Pender Co. Health HD Sarah Wright Sturdy Corporation
Paul Carr NHRMC Jon Booth Kinder Morgan
Teresa Smith NHCEM Zak Whicker NHCEM
Steven Still NHCEM Jodie Ruskin UNCW
Welcome and Introductions:
Teresa Smith opened the meeting at 11:04 thanking everyone for attending. We started with the
business portion of the meeting.
Membership announcements:
Two new members were introduced and acknowledged.
Minutes:
November minutes were reviewed and approved.
Business:
Teresa announced we were approved for $10,000 grant. We have one year to use it.
John Steinhour – what are our commodities study needs? Hazardous Maerial Emergency Planning Grant
has to be transportation related – this is a $10,000 grant.
Grants: Training and Exercises – Anna McCray is working on a 5 year training plan. How can LEPC
maximize training?
Steve Mason – training has to be done every year. The LEPC and planning team have facilitated
exercises in the past. But to meet our goals we can partner with local industries in training, not just
facilitate. This includes full-scale exercises and table top exercises.
Teresa is applying for a grant covering 2021, the submission deadline is December 31, 2019. She is
asking for a direction to go with this. What trainings are needed, who wants to share resources/money.
Steve Mason mentioned that one area where we are lacking is in complex trainings. Multiple vents
simultaneously unfolding. We need to do larger scale exercises. This is our weakness. It would help
with establishing Unified Command, shift changes, bringing multiple entities together. He suggested a
48-hour exercise. A situation that would involve the 911 Call Center.
Teresa reminded the group that she still would like the resource sharing worksheets and thanked those
that have already submitted.
The After Action report link was sent out. Please feel free to ask questions. Fuel was the biggest
concern.
KALS Contract. They came equipped with tankers and high-wheeled vehicles for Hurricane Dorian
Q: Do we have propane contracts? Nursing homes needed propane for generators during Hurricane
Florence.
Frank Meyer: vehicle fueling was less stressful during Dorian.
Food Vendors: we do not have a pre-positioned contract. Suggestion was made to have MRE’s as a
backup.
Emergency personnel within New Hanover County Government requested more training. During new
hire orientation all staff are trained for one aspect of helping with emergencies.
Teresa presented a roster of LEPC members. Please let her know of any changes.
Teresa asked Primary members or those who had voting rights to raise their hands. We have to vote for
the Chair, Vice-chair and Secretary. We need at least 10 for a Quorum.
Nominations are:
Chair – Teresa Smith and Frank Meyer
Secretary – Linda Willis and Tina Kuhr
Vote Tally: Teresa Smith was voted in as Chair and Frank Meyer is the Assistant Chair. Linda Willis was
voted in as Secretary and Tina Kuhr as the alternate.
Teresa will be assembling job descriptions soon.
Open Forum:
Teresa announced Mike Alexander will be retiring in February 2020.
Steven Still discussed issues from the After Action of Florence. Fuel, largest hurdle was trying to get
systems on line.
KALS is an aviation entity with government contracts. They are very aggressive. The NHC parking lots
will filled with fuel trucks. They are a full service company. They had cut/push crews and they even
have the ability to move side powerlines. Full time dedication to credentialing within the EOC. The
contract is managed by the Property Management Department.
We should have our own fuel needs contracted. NHC will assist with emergency needs. Also have
propane contracts in place – fork lift operations as an example.
World Kitchen prepared 60,000 meals/day during Hurricane Florence.
NHC helped with law enforcement. We would rather ask for forgiveness and handle emerging needs as
necessary.
NHC will not place roadblocks. We will not declare full scale evacuations but will help with credentialing
upon re-entry.
NC General Statute about post-emergency reentry for Law Enforcement.
LEPC should send NHC a list of essential personnel for re-entry. Steven Still’s signature will be needed
for entry if conditions are safe.
Teresa was asked if anyone did not pay the Hazardous Material Reporting Fee. Teresa noted that all
monies collected go into the general fund and payments can now be made through the Finance
Department. They do the follow-up with members. The burden of following up on past due payments
has been removed from the LEPC. NHC Finance now does the follow-ups. Members can still send
checks to Teresa, credit cards will go through Finance.
Eric Hatcher, CFPUA: Spoke about the chlorine tanks at the Southside plant.
Mark Venters, GE: Wanted to recognize NHC EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement for the difficult exercise in
October.
Meeting was adjourned.
Sub-Committee Breakout Summaries:
N/A
LEPC Committees:
New Executive Committee
Chairman- Teresa Smith
Vice-Chairman- Frank Meyer
Secretary- Linda Willis
Emergency Planning & Response Sub-Committee:
Chairman-
Members
Community Education & Public Response Sub-Committee:
We have LEPC brochures if anyone would like to get some and start giving them out to the business and
the community.
Chairman-
Members-
Next LEPC Meeting:
The next meeting will be held on January 8, 2020 in the NHC EOC.