The meeting was held at the Emergency Operations Center at Benicia Fire Station 11, commencing at 1536 hours. The list of attendees will be found at the end of these minutes. The following topics of discussion are in the order of the meeting agenda prepared by Chairman Bob Mutch.

Action Item Review - see attachment.

BERT Training Class Status ­ Chief Hanley

Class 7 is in progress and will conclude on Feb. 5 with a hands-on exercise. Marion McKown would like all BERT Management Zone Captains to attend the final training day so they can meet new members in their management zones.

Class 8 may be the designation for the new BERT training package to be produced on DVD.

Chief Hanley expects receipt of a $20,000 BERT grant within the following week.

1/29 HAM/BERT Drill Status ­ Art Mayoff

The drill will commence this next Saturday morning at 0900 with a briefing and assignments. The exercise will have been completed by 1200.

Approximately 20 people are expected to participate. The point of the drill is to give ham radio operators experience in handling emergency radio traffic during a disaster.

The drill will be city-wide, with focus one BERT management zone team. BERT team captains will play the roles of resource managers.

April City Drill Preparation ­ Chief Hanley

Chief Gantt is preparing a plan for BERT participation in the drill. It will include the establishment of an EOC, deployment of ACS radio operators in the field. The point of the drill is to test all radio equipment.

The exact date has not yet been set, but a Saturday would provide maximum potential participation.

Art Mayoff proposed that BERT team captains locate themselves at neighborhood command centers, where they could exercise their team member communications and teamwork.

Leslie Kvasnicka is interested in having Red Cross participation in the drill.

Chief Gantt and Captain K.C. Smith will provide a briefing on plans for the drill at the next BCCC meeting in February.

Team Cache Deployment Status

Chief Hanley reported that at least 20 caches have been assembled and are ready for deployment. Shortage items will be ordered next week. Deployment is expected to be completed by the end of February.

Len Corbaley said eleven volunteers completed the cache assemblies in less than two hours. 26 cache boxes remain to be filled when needed and materials are available.

Repeater Report ­ Art Mayoff

The repeater was successfully installed on January 6, and is working very well. Art has tested the repeater performance from locations throughout the city and has found no dead zones or areas of weak reception.

Shelter Survey/Documentation Status ­ Leslie Kvasnicka

A number of facilities have been identified as potential shelters; churches will be surveyed in February. The survey results will be reported at the February Council meeting.

Art Mayoff urged that maximum consideration be given to adequate numbers of shelters on both sides of the I-780 corridor, in the event that a disaster caused the interstate to block north-south travel in the city.

The Bay Area Red Cross will again offer free CPR training during their annual CPR Super Saturday on March 12. It is currently unknown if Benicia will have a training location. Leslie will advise council members of locations as soon as possible by email.

Volunteer Firefighters ­ Mike White

The Benicia Volunteer Firefighter program has been registered in the California State Fire Corps program.

Plans are complete for the construction of a volunteer facility at the Fire Museum.

New volunteers applicants will be interviewed in April and October. Publication of a newspaper article on recruitment is pending.

VIPs and Neighborhood Watch ­ Officer Baron

There are now 14 VIP members. Officer Baron encourages all VIP members to join the BERT program.

Officer Baron wants all Neighborhood Watch captains to participate in BERT management zone team meetings to brief BERT members on their program, coordinate parallel efforts and cross-train.

Possible group emailings was discussed as a possible means of communicating crime data to all concerned.

BCCC Logo ­ Bob Mutch

Bob asked Art Mayoff to investigate the possibility of securing pro bon graphics work concerning the logo. Art has offered to help format the logo in alternative software files.

A number of possible applications for the logo were discussed, including polo shirts, a large shield, and a banner capable of displaying upcoming related events.

Conclusion

The meeting concluded at 1652.

The next meeting is scheduled at the same time and place on Wednesday, February 23, 2005.

List of Attendees

Name and Affiliation

Patti Baron, Benicia Police Dept.
Len Corbaley, BERT/BARC
Ken Hanley, Benicia Fire Dept.
Leslie Kvasnicka, Red Cross
Art Mayoff, BERT/RACES/VIP
Marion McKown, BERT
Joe Murray, BCCC scribe/BERT/VIP
Bob Mutch, BCCC Chairman
Ron Uhlman, VIPS
Mike White, Benicia Volunteer Firefighters

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