REGION 5/6 EMERGENCY

MANAGEMENT

STAFFBill Pook Director

Lori WelbesOffice Manager

Emily Wageman Admin. Assistant

BOARD

ofGOVERNORS

Carl Schroeder Chairman Burt Co.

Board Members Burt County

Emmett Hennig

Dodge County Loell Strand Paul Marsh

Saunders County Ken Kuncl

Leroy Hanson

Washington County Kent Wilcox

Marvin Rohwer

DEPUTYDIRECTORSCarl Schroeder

Burt Co.

George Wagner Dodge Co.

Joel Konecky Saunders Co.

Mike Dwyer Washington Co.

DID YOU KNOW???...........Nebraska Emergency Management Act is the state law that governs emergency management. Section 81-829.46 (1) “The elected officials of local governments shall be responsible for ensuring that emergency management services are provided to their citizens and for coordinating emergency operations in their respective jurisdictions.” (3) “Each city, village, county or interjurisdictional emergency management organization shall have a full time director or full time deputy emergency management director.” For a complete copy of the state statutes, contact the Region 5/6 office.

Roles of RespondersElected Officials

Part 1 of a multi part series; each issue will take a look at the different roles of emergency responders according to the NIMS model.

If NIMS has taught us anything, it’s that there are many roles in a disaster response. In some cases these roles may overlap. We have all worn more than one hat at a time, but there is one role that is fulfilled by a single individual. That is the ultimate decision maker, the chief elected official (CEO).

The Operations Section and the on-scene Commander make tactical decisions only. But what if an evacuation is needed? What if a school needs to be closed? What if emergency expenditures have to be approved? What if a formal disaster declaration needs to be issued or a request for assistance needs to be made to higher authorities? Except for immediate life saving, only the CEO can make these and other critical decisions.

Elected officials receive little to no briefing or training about their emergency responsibilities. Like most other emergency responders, they are also volunteers. Generally in the past, they have placed a well founded trust in the abilities of local fire and law, but with the tragic events of 9-11, the dynamics have changed. NIMS is now a Federal and State mandatory directive. The active participation of our CEO’s is not an option…it is vital to a successful response.

No disaster drill is a failure. There is always a value in “lessons learned”. But a recent exercise had no CEO’s

Issue No. 2

present; we fell far short of our goal. Not having all the needed responders at any given level of planning and training prevents the community as a whole from moving forward to increased levels of preparedness.

As much as the basic firefighter or the cop on the front line, CEO’s are a part of our total response. Without a firefighter, that fire won’t go out on its own. Without law enforcement, the bad guys will persevere. Without our CEO’s, critical public safety decisions won’t be made by those we have entrusted to represent us.

Governor, Dave Heineman. Nebraska’s Chief Elected Official.

Region 5/6 LEPCLocal Emergency Planning Committee

The LEPC consists of volunteers who are approved by the State Emergency Response Commission (SERC). Their primary purpose is to develop emergency plans for chemical emergencies and some LEPC’s have expanded to all-hazards. Each year the LEPC reviews TIER II reports from area facilities that store certain types and levels of hazardous chemicals as identified by the EPA. A function of the LEPC is to make this information available to the public under the SARA Title II Emergency Planning, Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). This is usually done at county level meetings held in March/April in conjunction with severe weather awareness.

Who are these LEPC volunteer members? An effective committee must have dedicated members who are familiar with the community. Each LEPC must have at least one representative of:

• Elected or Local Officials• Law Enforcement• Firefighting• Emergency Management• Medical, such as hospitals or EMS• Media• TIER II facility operators• Community service organizations

Websites of Interesthttp://yosemite.epa.gov/oswer/lepcdb.nsf/HomePage?openForm

Environmental Protection Agency

http://www.nema.ne.gov/index_html?page=content/SERC/serc_home.htmlNebraska SERC/LEPC Information

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode42/usc_sup_01_42_10_116.htmlCornell Law School - EPCRA

http://www.deq.state.ne.us/Nebraska Dept. of Environmental Quality

Region 5/6 Emergency ManagementContact Information

435 North Park AvenueRoom 404

Fremont, NE 68025

Phone: (402)727-2785Fax: (402)727-2840Toll Free: (800)374-7356

Website: www.region5-6.org

Email bill@region5-6.org

lori@region5-6.orgemily@region5-6.org

The LEPC actually is acting in the capacity of a state agency. Local government has no direct authority over the LEPC but still must sanction both the acceptance of the plan and approve the commitment of their employees’ time and resources. Region 5/6 provides administrative support to the LEPC, but other than that, is only one of the participants in the process. The success of the LEPC is based upon the efforts of all the members.

The LEPC serves as a focal point for information and discussions about local hazardous substances and environmental risks. Citizens will expect the LEPC to reply to questions about risk management actions. The LEPC has the authority to request information from facilities for community planning purposes and can take civil actions against facilities that fail to provide the information required under EPCRA.

Currently the Region 5/6 LEPC only fulfills the minimum LEPC requirements so there is a lot of room to expand the program. Those interested in growing the Region 5/6 LEPC to its fullest potential should contact Bill at 727-2785.

“The degree of one’s emotion varies inversely with one’s knowledge of the facts - the less you know the hotter you get.” -- Bertrand Russell

QUESTION

Three men go to a cheap motel, and the desk clerk charges them a sum of $30.00 for the night. The three of them split the cost ten dollars each. Later the manager comes over and tells the desk clerk that he overcharged the men, since the actual cost should have been $25.00. The manager gives the bellboy $5.00 and tells him to give it to the men. The bellboy, however, decides to cheat the men and pockets $2.00, giving each of the men only one dollar. Now each man has paid $9.00 to stay for the night, and 3 x $9.00 = $27.00. The bellboy has pocketed $2.00. But $27.00 + $2.00 = $29.00.

Where is the missing $1.00?

NIMSRegion 5/6 member counties have all submitted their statements of NIMS compliance to the State. These statements apply to county level compliance and do not necessarily reflect local jurisdictions or individual agencies. A copy of this statement is available. Ask Lori to e-mail a copy and see how your department stands against the current NIMS compliance standard. lori@region5-6.org

NIMCAST On August 22, a group of 17 Region 5/6 responders met to complete the NIMS capability assessment survey. Results of the 75 question survey are available from our office. Area responders are experienced in using Incident Command, but our biggest stumbling block is making NIMS “institutionalized”.

Participants in the Region 5/6 NIMCAST were: Ken Kuncl, Joel Konecky, Loell Strand, George Wagner, Earl Rudolph, Jeff Elliot, Tim Mullen, Bob Pickell, Karolyn McElroy, Phil Green, Mike Dwyer, Harlo Wilcox, Tom Lamb, Bill Pook, Carl Schroeder, Leroy Hanson and Ben Scherer.

New NIMS courses Note that IS-800 - Introduction to the NRP, has been revised 8-15-06. If you have old study guides from a Region 5/6 class, they are no longer valid for test taking.

ICS 300 - Intermediate level and ICS 400 - Advance level are now being offered by Region 5/6. These new NIMS courses are not going to being offered on-line. NEMA will soon be including ICS 300 & 400 on their NIMS training matrix. If you are interested in sponsoring a class, contact Bill.

The players in our acronyms puzzle from the last newsletter received an acronyms coffee mug from

Region 5/6. Those recipients were as follows:

Jerry Beach - Fort Calhoun Community SchoolsBrian Ferring - Cedar Bluffs Police DepartmentJim Bunstock - PIO/Program Specialist, NEMA

Erin Matz - Degussa Corporation, Blair

The Washington County Sheriff’s office garnered a Buffer Zone Protection Plan grant through the Department of Homeland Security. The boat will be used to provide security on the Missouri River for the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant.

CONGRATULATIONS!!Region 5/6 Administrative Assistant, Emily Wageman, gave birth to a healthy baby girl on August 20. Mother and baby are doing wonderfully and the baby pictures are soooo cute! This is the first child for Emily and her husband Ward.

Rachel Lynn Wageman

Region 5/6 Emergency Management435 North Park AvenueRoom 404Fremont, NE 68025

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Upcoming 2006 Dates of Interest

September 20 Nebraska Regional Exercise Planning Workshop Mahoney State Park

September 28 Region 5/6 Board of Governors Meeting (Fremont)

October 16-17 NEMA Exercise Design Class

October 18-19 NEMA Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Training

October 27-28 Full Scale Field Exercise ~ UASI