City Council Planning Sessions

Monday, February 24, 2020 1. Call to Order The Wheaton City Council Planning Session was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Mayor Suess at Fire Station #38, 1 Fapp Circle. The following were: Physically Present: Mayor Suess Councilman Barbier Councilwoman Bray-Parker Councilwoman Fitch Councilman Rutledge Councilman Zaruba Absent: Councilwoman Robbins City Staff Present: John Duguay, Assistant City Manager William Schultz, Fire Chief William Murphy, Chief of Police Susan Bishel, Public Information Officer Sarah Marcucci, Emergency Management Coordinator 2. Public Comment There were no public comments. 3. Approval of January 27, 2020 Minutes The Council approved the January 27, 2020 City Council Planning Session minutes. 4. Review of Wheaton Emergency Management Operations Fire Chief Schultz stated staff wanted City officials to see how the City’s emergency operations plans work in the location that serves as the City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC). He introduced Emergency Management Coordinator Sarah Marcucci, and the Wheaton Police Department command staff were also present, as the Police and Fire departments work closely together in emergency management. Chief Schultz reviewed the City’s emergency management and preparedness planning efforts to deal with disasters such as severe weather, a train derailment or other disaster. He stated there were many lessons learned from the events of September 11, 2001, and federal mandates were put in place to require communities to be prepared, conduct training, develop plans, and have common terminology. Wheaton has taken steps like ensuring interoperability for communications and continuing to update its Emergency Operations Plan. The City follows the federal model and regularly conducts training and exercises. Part of the City’s plan includes a formalized Crisis Management Team, which is a unified command consisting of the City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Fire Chief, Police Chief, Public Works Director and Public Information Officer. Chief Schultz reviewed how this team can be activated to make decisions on FEBRUARY 24, 2020 CITY COUNCIL PLANNING SESSION MINUTES behalf of the City during large-scale incidents, emergencies and events, without necessarily activating the EOC. Fire Chief Schultz also reviewed the declaration process for disasters and requirements in order to acquire state and federal assistance. In response to Council questions about how the City reaches out for help, Chief Schultz stated the City participates in mutual aid agreements, so they would reach out locally first, and after a disaster declaration on the County level, Illinois Emergency Management would assist in getting resources to assist the City, and depending on the level of disaster, this could continue all the way up to federal resources. Police Chief Murphy stated there are already plans in place for many types of resources, but the first 72 hours are critical for the City to be able to be self-sufficient using local resources. The EOC organization was reviewed, consisting of a setup of City staff and officials in Fire Station 38 organized into three groups: operations, planning and logistics. Fire Chief Schultz reviewed the unified command structure model the City uses, which is a joint decision-making organization in which responsibility, authority and expertise dictate who is making decisions. In response to Council questions, Police Chief Murphy and Fire Chief Schultz explained that in a situation where the EOC is activated, it is likely that key decision makers would report to the EOC, while command staff carry out operations, but they are in regular communication. Fire Chief Schultz reviewed priorities of the EOC, which include life safety, incident stabilization, property conservation, economic conservation, environmental impacts, continuity of government, cultural impacts and legal impacts. Some instances that would trigger the EOC to operate would include a severe weather event, mass casualty incident, a need to use mass communication to residents, widespread loss of City infrastructure, or the need to open a shelter. In response to Council questions about an emergency affecting the City’s water supply, staff outlined the security measures in place to ensure any problems would be rapidly detected, and the City has an independent water supply for a certain length of time. In regard to questions about the availability of City staff to continue communications in an emergency, Assistant City Manager Duguay stated the City is part of the GETS system, which provides connectivity when normal systems may be overloaded, and the City’s Police, Fire and Public Works departments have redundant systems available to communicate locally. Fire Chief Schultz reviewed communication procedures in an emergency and the City’s upcoming change to a mass notification system separate from the Reverse 9-1-1 system, plus the ability of the command staff to push out messages through the Public Information Officer at any time. In response to a question about possible upcoming needs for the City’s emergency response, the Fire and Police Departments identified some technology they may consider using to assist their efforts, and the City will be looking to put together a local volunteer group for assisting the community in an emergency. In response to a question about how other government agencies would fit into the City’s EOC, Fire Chief Schultz stated the National Incident Management System model that is used nationwide allows for the EOC to be expanded as needed to incorporate other agencies. FEBRUARY 24, 2020 CITY COUNCIL PLANNING SESSION MINUTES 5. City Council/City Staff Comments Mayor Suess thanked the Fire and Police Departments for inviting the Council to the EOC and informing them about the planning that goes into this process. 6. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Bishel