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Emergency Management Response Team Minutes

Meeting date: 
Saturday, April 18, 2020

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPONSE TEAM (EMRT)

MEETING MINUTES 4/18/2020

 

Attendees:  Chief Rick McQuade, Chief David Hall, DEMD Karen Day, Chief Brian Giammarino & (Henry), EMD Martin, Health Officer Borden, DEMD Diane Boilard, GFA Coordinator Chris Borden

Walk-in Guest:   Ray Cilley

Meeting opened at 9:08, but within a minute an emergency call came in and the rescue squad left the meeting returning later to restart the meeting at 10:11

Last Meeting Minutes were accepted and approved.

Director Martin discussed the 4/16/20 Selectboard meeting concerning what part of the Mailer was unacceptable by the Selectboard.  Aaron Patt explained that he felt the EMRT mailer suggested that the EMRT was partnering with non-town government agencies and so opened the town to difficulties and liabilities.  When asked what exactly was objectionable, Aaron pointed to the word “we” in the 1st paragraph, 3rd sentence “We are partnering with them in this difficult time.”, on the 2nd page and the closing lines on the 2nd page “If you have any additional concerns or questions, you can reach the Emergency Management Response Team at , 547-3501 or at GreenfieldEMRTQuestions@gmail.com and we will get back to you as soon as we possibly can”, and the closing.  Aaron Pat felt that the partnering should be eliminated and the closing denoting the EMRT should be placed on the 1st page before information about volunteering.  Dave Martin has agreed to delete the ““We are partnering with them in this difficult time.”, and move the closing to the 1st page before the volunteering section.  He will send the Mailer back to Aaron, and request that the Selectboard get back by a certain time on Sunday night to him with feedback.

  1. A discussion on what collaboration with the Selectboard would be beneficial and what would be a hindrance to the EMRT ensued.  The demand that the EMRT completely disengage in partnering with other volunteer groups in the town deleted a significant portion of the EMRT’s efforts to help the town’s residents. It has also proved difficult to be micromanaged from a distance by the board.  The EOP was developed to guide the EMD on the activities needed and how to work them.  The fact that the Pandemic is a fast paced emergency, does not allow for significant breaks in time to have actions implemented.  It was decided that we somehow find common ground to get through this Pandemic.
  2. In handling the “Volunteer” partnering, we ended by deciding that the best action was to place it with Rev. Dan Osgood.  Mike Borden would talk with Karen Nadeau and Rev. Dan on this issue.  The two groups would complement each other without the bureaucratic interference.  The Firefighter’s Association would continue to handle the financial aspect of donated money as a 501c3.
  3. Ray Cilley was invited by Chief McQuade to speak with us.  Ray felt that providing meals to the EMRT as a gesture of appreciation for our efforts coupled with helping to keep our new restaurant afloat was good for all of us.  He also talked about creating a $10 wooden token so that Townspeople could buy them to support the effort. The Association would find a way for credit card donations to be used.  He mentioned that Rhonda Cilley would be able help in this area.  Many thanks to Ray Cilley.
  4. Would we be creating any more Mailers?  It was felt that it depended on how the current mailer worked out.
  5. State Conference Calls: 
    • Gov. Sununu has declared that the Campgrounds are essential and should be kept open.  A long discussion on the potential problems of decontaminating common areas such as the bathrooms and use of beaches and whether our State Park was in any condition to be opened.  Mike wanted to explore the Health Officer’s role in these issues including whether the camp sites in the Greenfield State Park were adequate.  Mike/Dave M to be in on the next conference call and to ask clarification on these questions.  
    • A second issue from the State is that they are asking for donations of unused PPE’s if it’s something we don’t need.  We might have some small sized masks that we could donate.  Chief McQuade to work this issue.   
    • Chief Hall referred to an article which discussed a study that took titer tests (for Covid-19 antibodies) on 3,300 people who had not shown any symptoms of COVID-19.  The results showed that nearly 50% were positive.  This seem to indicate that estimating the possible # of cases by multiplying positive tested cases by 10 to see the broader possible contagion would more likely be greatly underestimating the actual infection rate of this virus.  As an example; if there were 1 million positive tests, in reality it was likely that there were 50 to 80 million people that had been infected.
  6. The Sanitized gel units have come in and Director Martin felt that it would be a good idea to place one near the outside entrance to the Town Office. Chief McQuade would box it in to keep it safe.
  7. Direct Martin said that he would be attending all the Selectboard meetings in the future during the COVID-19 crisis.  A motion was made to make Dave the liaison between the EMRT & the Selectboard.  The motion carried.
  8. A motion was made to have Karen Day continue to be a Deputy EMD.  Motion carried.
  9. A motion was made to ensure the Selectboard was available after our meetings if a question needed immediate answers.  Motion carried.  Director Martin to ask the Selectboard to be available to the EMRT members after our meetings for this purpose.
  10. A motion was made to establish titles but was tabled to a later date.

Meeting ended at 11:50

Respectfully submitted by DEMD Diane Boilard