Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutLEPC Meeting Minutes 020824Local Emergency Planning Committee February 8, 2024 Page 1 Hawaii County LEPC Meeting Minutes Civil Defense EOC and via ZOOM February 8, 2024 Members Present: Gerald Kosaki/ LEPC Chair, Thomas Shopay HPD, Matthew Ho HFD- HAZMAT, Darwin Okinaka/HFD, Matthew Ho/HFD Hazmat, Bill Hansen Civil Defense, Grant Kow Dept. of Ag. Pesticides Branch, Thomas Gilmore/DOH HEER, David Cummings - Hamakua Energy Partners, Eric Honda/DOH Hawaii District Health Office, Chris Leonard/Media, Casey Kishimori/HELCO, David Cummings, Hamakua Energy Partners Non-Members Present: Cody Frenz/Corp. Council, Alexey Katko/Admin., Liz Galvez – DOH/HEER, Sharon Leonida – DOH/HSERC Members Absent: Ron Quesada/PGV, Orasa Fernandez/DOE, Ha Chi/Hilo Medical Center, Alfred Leung/Pacific Biodiesel, Kili Kanae/ HFD EMS, Phil Carper, BEI, Terri Napeahi, Keaukaha Action Network, Jason Dekemper/ Pacific Biodiesel I. CALL TO ORDER: 9:11am call to order II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Chief Okinaka moved to approve minutes, David Cummings seconded. Discussion had. Motion passed; Minutes approved. III. COUNTY REPORTS: a. CIVIL DEFENSE: Bill Hansen: Updating the plans. For review are: All Hazard Mitigation Plan. In the process to award the contract to a vendor to help with this. Chair Kosaki stated that Tetra Tech worked on this years ago but the final product was not completed. Last week completed TTX, testing out the evacuation for tsunami evacuation. Distant tsunami, earthquake, that goes into a watch and then a warning. Worked internally with HPD, HFD, Dep of Public works, Civil defense, and Parks and Recreation. In April there will be a larger exercise scale with a tabletop test. This is a precursor to roll out an official plan. This will help to provide education for vulnerable communities and to determine that all assets are available and on hand. Thomas Shopay HPD: confirmed this is to make sure all assets are up to date and properly set up. b. FIRE: Chief Darwin Okinaka working on acquiring a new Hazmat vehicle for Kaumana. Currently finalizing specs for Kaumana Fire Station to replace a 1997 model. Oahu is hosting CAMEO training and since there are many new hires who never got this training, HFD will be sending 6 people to Oahu. The last CAMEO training was 2 years ago. No need for LEPC funds because the county will fund it. Chair Kosaki stated that CAMEO stands for Computer Aided Management for Emergency Operations and that it does modeling to forecast potential hazards like plume modeling and determines things like how far out people need to be evacuated. Local Emergency Planning Committee February 8, 2024 Page 2 c. POLICE: Thomas Shopay HPD: Coordinating with civil defense for tsunami evacuation. Finalizing their plan in conjunction with overall county plan. Working with the State Emergency Response Commission to replace our current emergency response guidebooks (ERG) for first responders. Chair Kosaki stated that the ERGs are updated every 4 years. It is due to come out this year but they are not yet published. Sharon Leonida: said the printing deal for ERG’s is signed and hopefully will be ready starting in April. IV. INDUSTRY PARTNERS: a. HAMAKUA ENERGY PARTNERS: Dave Cummings. no report b. HELCO: Casey Kishimori: No report c. MEDIA: Chris Leonard – there were a few legislative bills. Two carry overs from last session and two new ones. SB-2173 & HB2581. Reinforces smooth flow of information to the public during emergency. It’s a bill from the Korean war era for Triangulation. V. STATE REPORTS: a. DOH – HEER: i. Liz Galvez: Advertising started on the radio regarding Tier II. This is for the submittal of facilities to Dep. Of Health. Campaign is hopefully starting on Monday on Big Island. It’s a one minute ad stating when the deadline is to submit Tier II reports and payments that are due March 1st. Working on getting budget for HAZMAT emergency response plan. ii. Bill Hansen clarified that these funds from grants help to provide funding because each plan is connected to the larger plan. b. HSERC: Sharon Leonida: Tier II reports on jump drive have been mailed out to fire dept and they should be getting it in a few days. It is for last year. Tom Bergman who will be running CAMEO class will already have this info and he will include it in the course. Minutes need to be submitted so LEPC funding can be secured. c. DEPT OF AG: Grant Kow: Many people asking about pesticide use. Doing lots of consultation and visiting private sector and government. Also looking closer at storages. Dealers also have been asking about safety and storage. Looking at lots of bills this year at the capitol. Disposal program for pesticide drop off will be in Kona on Apr 9th from 8am-3pm and in Hilo on Apr 11th from 8am-3pm. This is a no questions asked drop off regardless of what it may be. Grant announced his resignation as he will be leaving the DOA. Michelle Higashi will probably take over so I will provide her contact. VI. OLD BUSINESS: a. Chair Kosaki: Inquired about finding a new member addition as a military representative. Local Emergency Planning Committee February 8, 2024 Page 3 i. Chief Darwin Okinaka: mentioned there is a new chief at PTA so he will contact him. ii. Chair Kosaki: Stated that we should ask him as to who can be a good fit. Person chosen should have information on explosive transport and other hazmat related information. This is so that we can get information to the hazmat team for safety of the responders and community. VII. NEW BUSINESS: a. Chair Kosaki: Stated that the upcoming NASTTPO workshop will be in April this year. This is an administrative workshop with great info for the LEPC regarding the EPCRA law. It will be held in Charlote NC during the week of April 22-25. He stated that it would be beneficial to have someone from the LEPC attend in addition to the Chair. Matthew Ho made a motion to allot up to $5,000 for a member to attend the workshop. Chief Okinaka seconded and the motion passed. Chair Kosaki requested that anyone interested contact him soon since the date is nearing. If multiple members request to attend, we will use a priority of who attended previous NASTTPO workshops in the past, time in the LEPC, and attendance at LEPC meetings. b. No other new business or announcements. VIII. NEXT MEETING: May 2, 2024, 9:00am IX. ADJOURNMENT: Meeting Adjourned at 9:48am.