EOC Committee

Town of Swansboro Emergency Operations Center Committee July 13, 2022, Regular Meeting In attendance: Paula Webb, David Degnan, Dwayne Taylor, Jennifer Ansell, Brenda Pugliese, Larry Philpott, Jeff Conaway, Dusty Rhodes, Roy Herrick, Jonathan McDaniel, Ed McHale, Laurent Meilleur, and Junior Freeman. ********************************** Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 3:00 pm. Minutes On a motion by Mr. Herrick, seconded by Mr. Rhodes the minutes for April 25, 2022, Special Meeting, May 11, 2022, Regular Meeting, and May 25, 2022, Regular Meeting were adopted unanimously. New Member Introduction New members, Ed McHale and Jonathan McDaniel introduced themselves. Both were replacements for removed members Russ Davis and Alex Wood. Review Direction provided by Board of Commissioners The board reviewed the direction provided by the Board of Commissioners and Mr. Philpott noted that the schedule provided was a guideline. See attachment A. Committee members requested that the written report provided by the Chair monthly to the BOC also be shared with the committee. Review Action Items from May 11th and 25th Meetings Site location The Beaufort and Southport locations were indicated as locations that should still be visited. Aerial view of Campus An aerial view of the current campus that encompassed Town Hall, Fire Department and Public Works department was reviewed. This property was a location for consideration of renovation and/or construction of a new facility on the campus. There were two areas of the property identified as having a considerable impact on the project and those were the water tower and cemetery. See Attachment B. RFQ Draft Mrs. Webb provided a draft RFQ for review. Committee members were directed to review and provide feedback to Manager Webb by July 22, 2022. Page 1 of 5 Review site visits Committee members shared comments on the sites visited on May 25, 2022. The sites visited were to the Atlantic Beach EOC, and Jacksonville Station # 1 & 2. Each of these locations were built to withstand a Category 3 hurricane. Closed Session On a motion by Mr. Conaway, seconded by Mr. Herrick the committee entered closed session pursuant to NCGS 143-318.11 (a) (5) for the discussion of possible property acquisition. During closed session, a motion was made and seconded to return to open session. No action was taken. Adjournment On a motion by Mr. Conaway, seconded by Mrs. Pugliese, with unanimous approval, the meeting adjourned at 4:36 pm. Page 2 of 5  Attachment A Proposed Emergency Management Committee Action Plan Goals The goal of the Emergency Management Center Advisory Committee (committee) is to present a final report to the Swansboro Board of Commissioners (BOC) by August 2023 that examines various alternatives for providing emergency services to the town’s residents whenever the board declares an emergency that requires opening its operations center. The report will describe the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, include estimated construction and maintenance costs for each alternative, land purchases that might be required and the costs of furnishings and new equipment. The final report will also include a recommended alternative with preliminary cost estimates and a timetable for completion. The total cost of that alternative will not exceed the $6 million provided by the state grant plus any accrued interest. The committee can do what it thinks is needed to achieve this goal, including interviewing experts in the field of emergency management and visiting emergency centers in coastal communities of similar size. Alternatives The committee will include in its report any alternative it considers viable. At a minimum, these alternatives will be: Dual-Use Building: A new municipal building that would serve as an operations center during times of declared emergencies. The building would be planned to include all the features needed for a temporary emergency center but would primarily serve another town function most of the time. Public-safety Center: A new police and fire station to replace our current building that would be used as an emergency center when needed. The building would be sized to accommodate reasonable future growth. Regional Center: A building that would serve as a regional emergency operations center for eastern Onslow County with building, operations and maintenance costs shared with the county. A similar arrangement will be explored with our neighboring communities in western Carteret County: Cape Carteret, Cedar Point and Peletier. Consultants The Board of Commissioners will contract a consultant to help the committee achieve its goals in the time frame outlined here. The task before the committee is complex, technical and time- consuming. Our small, hard-working town staff doesn’t have the time to manage such a large task. Neither do volunteer advisors. Page 3 of 5 The committee’s first task, then, is prepare and distribute a Request for Proposals for a qualified consultant. The committee will present a list of such consultants along with its recommended choice to the board for hiring by August 2022. Deliverables and Timetable Monthly: Written reports to the BOC by the committee chair. Quarterly (Aug. 2022, Nov. 2022, Feb. 2023, May 2022): Agenda item discussions by the BOC about the committee’s progress. The committee chair will be present along with any other committee member who wishes to take part. Joint meetings (Jan. 2023, June 2023): The BOC and the committee will meet jointly at least twice to discuss in depth the committee’s work and findings. Other joint meetings will be held as needed at the discretion of the BOC or the committee. Aug. 2023: Final report deliver to the BOC Page 4 of 5 Attachment B Page 5 of 5