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Emergency Management Response Team Minutes

Meeting date: 
Friday, May 15, 2020

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT RESPONSE TEAM (EMRT)

MEETING MINUTES 5/12/2020

 

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.

Meeting opened at 12:10

Last Meeting Minutes were accepted as amended and approved.

  1. EMD Martin talked about a report that gave new standards on what would trigger the need for testing COVID-19 and the length of time before a return to work and social interaction.  He also mentioned that he requested another 1,000 masks for use in the different town buildings.  He gave the Library 200 for their use on this day and would be distributing the rest to the remaining town departments.
  2.  Health Officer Borden will be working with Jesse at the Harvester Market to determine how many customers would be acceptable during open hours.  Like most businesses, there seems to be a rethinking on exactly how to approach the increase in customers as the summer season begins.  At this point all employees would be wearing face coverings.
  3. On reopening the town buildings and government activities.  We discussed what the neighboring towns were doing at this time, which seemed to be mostly full employment (especially with the mid-year tax bills starting) but little to no interaction with the public.  The Select Board will need to designate what business is required and we, the EMRT, can then define how to achieve the activities safely.  Certain aspects of town services to the public such as the town beaches, will need to have strong signage for social distancing but there seems to be agreement that enforcement must be left up to the individual’s own responsibility.  It was thought that the signage should state boldly that the beaches are for town resident’s only.  The Select Board would need to decide if they would give permits to vacation residents or not.
  4. A short discussion on the new government FEMA stipend resulted in an action item for Chief McQuade to submit the Fire and Rescue roster to Aaron .ASAP
  5. A discussion about the next mailer brought a few small changes but we all felt that Dave Hall and Karen produced an excellent product.
  6. DEMD Karen Day created a Phase chart showing 5 stages of the Pandemic.  This would give us a good visual in explaining to the Select Board where we felt the town was in the Pandemic and how to approach the actions we needed to implement.  Well done Dave & Karen.  A motion was made and passed to accept this document for our use.
  7. There were several questions put to the EMRT on the how the viral load could accumulate and finally become an illness.  Since we did not have the medical or scientific background, we felt it best not to advise with any answers to these questions.
  8. On the Governor’s Stay at Home 2.0, we decided to table this discussion to the next meeting.
  9. One item brought up on the town business was the inaccessibility of the Welfare department.  The phone number given to contact Leah was a long distance #.  If you were unable to afford food, it was thought that you might not be able to afford to call long distance or afford a cell phone or internet service.  Due to the way the town’s phone lines were set up, there is a real problem here that the Select Board should address. We discussed whether the Library could be a source of help.  Diane to talk with the Director and Trustees.
  10. Discussion of the Welfare dept. not having its own phone # lead to a discussion on how many departments had their own offices and which ones were shared and how would reopening impact them.  The welfare dept., the Tax collector, and the town Treasurer all are required to share space and schedule different times to use common office space.  Building and Grounds manager, Rick McQuade has been doing the disinfecting of the office spaces and will need to have a dialog with the Select Board on the reopening strategies.  It was also suggested that the town purchase “Zoom” for the use of all its boards and departments and committees to use.  Inexpensive but able to broaden the scope of meetings.  Only $15.
  11. COOP raised it raggedy head again.  This pandemic brings to light the need for solid decisions on how the government will be able to carry on if we temporarily or permanently loose some of the major department heads to this pandemic.  It is not acceptable to just say “We can’t replace someone”.  No one is irreplaceable.  A strategy is needed and it needs to be implemented.  All major businesses go through this and find ways to ensure that they do not fold due to not having a secession plan. If anything, this Pandemic highlights this need.
  12. A discussion on whether Rev. Dan Osgood had requested any food from the reserve we have purchased.  So far, he has not.  The cascading effect of the loss of employment, then the loss of jobs, then closures of businesses has not yet created the wall that would require the backup food we have stored.  We all felt it was just a matter of time when all other resources would dry up and the need would come.
  13. We discussed the scarcity of hand sanitizer and the huge increase in cost of what could be found.  We would continue to look for reasonably priced sanitizer, but the town also needs to work this issue with what sources they can find to stock up on this item.

Meeting ended at 2:40

Respectfully submitted by DEMD Diane Boilard