Minutes of

 

Benicia Citizen Corps Council Meeting

 

November 17, 2004

 

The meeting was held at the Emergency Operations Center at Benicia Fire Station 1, commencing at 1537 hours. The list of attendees will be found at the end of these minutes.

 

Chairman Bob Mutch thanked all concerned for the excellent turnout at the BERT Muster held on Monday November 15, 2004, which more than 50% of all certified BERT members attended.

 

Bob Mutch complimented Art Mayoff for the comprehensive and professionally-prepared BERT newsletter he recently published.

 

Action item review:

 

  1. BERT newsletter – done.
  2. Establishment of BERT Management Zones – done.
  3. BERT phone tree establishment - Marion McKown projects completion after Thanksgiving.
  4. Deadline for input to next BERT newsletter – January 8, 2005. Art Mayoff reported that the BERT Support Group meeting minutes would be included in the newsletter only if needed as filler material.

 

The following italicized entries represent action items

 

BERT

 

  1. Bob Mutch stated that selected churches will be included in the list of emergency shelter locations.
  2. Fire Chief Hanley said that no further funds are currently available for BERT. He expects that Benicia will share equally with Rio Vista in the $30,000 of state grant money for 2005.
  3. Bob Mutch has sent a written request to Adam Sutkus, Director of the Citizens Corps program under the Governor’s California Service Corps Initiative, asking for expanded grant lead information in the California Service Corps/Citizen Corps web page. Bob is awaiting a reply.
  4. The feasibility of requesting and accepting public donations to the BERT program will be discussed at the next BCCC meeting.
  5. The use of certified BERT members to augment Benicia Fire Department personnel in conducting future BERT classes was discussed. Chief Hanley said it would be considered if class enrollment exceeded 60. Chief Hanley will ask Capt. Smith to request interested certified BERT members to shadow Fire Dept. trainers in upcoming class conduct to prepare them as trainers.

 

  1. Chief Hanley asked all BERT Team captains to input to the newsletter.
  2. Art Mayoff asked Bob Mutch to provide a suggested scenario for the next BERT desktop drill.
  3. Chief Hanley, Bob Mutch and Officer Patti Baron asked Jean Colomy to furnish each of them with a copy of the BERT roster spreadsheet.
  4. Marion McKown asked that the Fire Dept. include reflective tape and management zone maps in each of the cache boxes.
  5. Bob Mutch initiated discussion about advertising and recruiting for the future BERT classes, the next which starts on January 4, 2005. The following  were suggested by attendees as possible methods:
    1. Local Newspapers (Bob Mutch, with assistance from Capt. Smith, will write an article for publication).
    2. Door to door recruitment by team captains.
    3. Church announcements (to be coordinated by Jerry Pollard).
    4. School flyers containing brief articles for students to take home.
    5. Service clubs.
    6. Presentations by SRO’s/DARE officers to parks and recreation audiences.
  6. Chief Hanley reported that 60 two-way radios have been procured and will be placed in the cache boxes.

 

RACES/ASC

 

  1. Art Mayoff discussed the recently ordered radio repeater. Chief Hanley requested Russ Clifton to ask Solano County personnel what maintenance support they might be able to provide for the repeater after the one year warranty has expired.
  2. Regarding the recently acquired 1.2 GHZ Backbone Radio Link Antenna. Art asked Chief Hanley how it could be arranged to install it on the Fire Station 1 building. Chief Hanley said he will provide the necessary aerial ladder support for its installation, given adequate notice.
  3. Art reported on the conduct of the November 9 Desktop Radio Exercise. He said the 45 minute exercise went well. Six groups performed the exercise in a centralized location, each with its own scribe. A 45 minute critique followed. The goal for 2005 is to conduct a larger exercise of 2 hours duration, with dispatch to remote locations. The next exercise will probably be on a Saturday morning.
  4. Russ Clifton will be the emergency coordinator and future ACS contact in place of Art Mayoff.
  5. Art requested that Chief Gene Gantt furnish an emergency scenario for the next exercise.
  6. Art also requested that the Fire Dept. provide an observer for the exercise.

 

Neighborhood Watch

 

Lance DuPuis expressed an interest in obtaining a summation of police service calls, organized geographically, to help him establish new neighborhood areas. Chief Trimble suggested Lance review his needs with the Police Dept. records clerk.

 

Marion McKown suggested that Neighborhood Watch members be alerted to inventory their neighborhoods for serious injuries and property damage following major incidents. Lance will convey this suggestion to members.

Chief Trimble suggested that Neighborhood Watch members make an inventory of their neighbors’ special skills and equipment that could be useful following a major incident. Art Mayoff would like to include the same idea in a BERT newsletter. Lance agreed to write the article.

 

Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS)

 

Officer Patti Baron said there remains a need for additional volunteer for the program. Possible sources from which to draw new volunteers include senior associations, Rancho Benicia residents, real estate offices, church groups and the library.

 

Patti said that recruiting efforts will be held in abeyance until current new members have completed their training. She will initiate recruiting through the distribution of flyers.

 

Medical Service Corps

 

Ron Uhlman suggested that the medical service corps be dropped from the BCCC due to lack of interested providers. Bob Mutch will defer action until at least the next BCCC meeting.

 

BCCC Web Site

 

Art Mayoff will work with Leslie Kvnieska to add Red Cross volunteer opportunities to the site.

 

Other

 

Officer Patti Baron asked about establishing a central facility in which all of the emergency volunteers could operate. Chief Hanley said the Emergency Operations Center in the fire station serves that purpose.

 

 

 

 

Next meeting

 

Wednesday, December 22, 1530 hours in the EOC.

 

 

The meeting concluded at 1709 hours.

 

 

 

 

BCCC Meeting of November 17, 2005

 

List of Attendees

 

Name                                                             Affiliation

 

Patti Baron                                                    Benicia Police Dept.

Russ Clifton                                                 BERT/BARC

Jean Colomy                                                            BERT

Len Corbaley                                                            BERT/BARC

Leon DuPuis                                                            Neighborhood Watch

Ken Hanley                                                   Benicia Fire Dept.

Art Mayoff                                                       BERT/RACES/VIP

Marion McKown                                           BERT

Joe Murray                                                    BCCC scribe/BERT/VIP

Bob Mutch                                                     BCCC Chairman

Jim Trimble                                                  Benicia Police Dept.

Ron Uhlman                                                 Medical Service Corps/VIP