AT AN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP/MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS HELD IN AND FOR GADSDEN COUNTY, FLORIDA ON APRIL 2, 2013 AT 4:30 P.M., THE FOLLOWING PROCEEDINGS WERE HAD, VIZ:

Present: Doug Croley-District 2, Chairman

Eric Hinson-District 1, Vice Chairman

Gene Morgan-District 3 (arrived late)

Brenda Holt-District 4

Sherrie Taylor-District 5 (arrived late)

Deborah Minnis, County Attorney

Robert Presnell, County Administrator

Marcella Blocker, Deputy Clerk

***NOTE: There were technical difficulties with some of the audio and/or video portions of the meeting and the entire meeting was not recorded***

CALL TO ORDER Chair Croley called the meeting to order at 4:42 p.m. and Mr. Presnell stated this was a scheduled workshop concerning Emergency Management. He also informed the Board that the Interlocal Agreement concerning Emergency Management between the Board and the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office had been signed by the Sheriff’s Office and was on the agenda for April 16^th.
WELCOME Major Shawn Wood, Emergency Management Director, appeared before the Board and wanted to recognize and pay respect to the first responders and he mentioned Mr. Curtis King, who lost his life in the line of duty during a tropical storm.
1.	Overview of the key functions of Emergency Management: Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Major Wood talked about the importance of everyone being safe and getting out safely during disasters and having a healthy response. He stressed the importance of having a plan in place and on paper so if one person was out, someone would be able to come in behind them and take over. He also mentioned he just returned from the National Hurricane Conference and said he found out Florida had a good plan. Steps are Planning, Mitigate, Response, and Recovery. He mentioned that Emergency Management is funded through the Federal Government and the State.
2.	Updates on the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan and Local Mitigation Strategy Revisions Major Wood mentioned the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan and said it was an overall plan for what Emergency Management does. He mentioned points of distribution and said it was important so people would know where to get things from after a disaster. Brian Bradshaw, Florida Division of Emergency Management, appeared before the Board. He mentioned that Florida Statutes Chapter 252 gave a guide to counties and cities for emergency management. Major Wood showed a survival checklist of items suggested that would be needed by households and listed the shelters and mentioned that a pet friendly shelter was in the works. Tashonda Whaley, Emergency Management Program Administrator, and Sara Hinson, Nursing Director with Gadsden County Health Department, appeared before the Board. They informed the Board that the shelters were staffed during disasters and that a special needs shelter was located at East Gadsden High School. The informed the Board how they prepared for hurricane season. Major Wood said East Gadsden, West Gadsden and Havana Middle were shelters. He added that through a grant, East Gadsden was solar-powered. Aaron Kissler, Administrator, Gadsden County Health Department, appeared before the Board. He said during an emergency, they were able to communicate with people across the State to help take care of needs in this area. He stated that one section of the health department people did not think about was environmental health. He said they did education on mosquito control and disease monitoring. Chris Rietow, Apalachee Regional Planning Council, appeared before the Board and spoke about the hazard analysis program. He mentioned that Gadsden County had quite a bit of facilities that held hazardous materials. Major Wood pointed out that time had run out before there was a chance to talk about recovery and maybe a second part to this workshop could be scheduled for a later date. He also mentioned training that would be done in July.
3.	Commissioner’s Questions and Comments Commissioner Holt suggested Public Service Announcements to be aired on the local television and radio stations to inform the public of the need to register people with special needs. Commissioner Morgan mentioned the county-wide automated emergency call-outs and asked if that would be implemented again. Major Wood said it was stopped because of budget cuts and new systems were not as expensive now. Commissioner Hinson inquired about texting. Major Wood stated the new systems had a number of different ways to contact the public. Chair Croley asked if there was a county-wide problem with the lack of house numbers to help with finding someone during an emergency. Major Wood said it was a problem. Commissioner Hinson mentioned issues with a number of subdivisions that had problems with ingress/egress where there was one way in, one way out and railroads across some of those roads. Commissioner Holt asked if there were a lot of contact with CSX because of the hazardous materials they transported through our area and the natural gas pipeline. Chair Croley mentioned misuse of generators during disasters and asked if there was a way to inform the public on properly using them to not cause problems for utility companies. Chair Croley asked about bordering counties in Georgia and if there was a relationship with the State of Georgia concerning pollution of the water, etc. Chair Croley complemented Major Wood on everything that had been presented and how far emergency management had come for the county.
MOTION TO ADJOURN THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THE BOARD, CHAIR CROLEY DECLARED THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:57 P.M. GADSDEN COUNTY, FLORIDA _____________________________________________ DOUGLAS M. CROLEY, CHAIR BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ATTEST: ______________________________________ MARCELLA BLOCKER, DEPUTY CLERK FOR NICHOLAS THOMAS, CLERK