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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOctober 6LAH_ECC-FINAL-Minutes_Oct-6-2015 1 Emergency Communications Committee: Meeting Minutes Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015 Los Altos Hills City Council Chambers, 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022 Roll call: (9 members; + 7 others): P = present, E = excused, no mark = absent Member Call Sign Attendance Jim Abraham, Co-Chair W6EB P Dru Anderson, Secretary KG6LAD P Bob Anderson KC6ZWG P Andy Fawcett KI6MAF P Jim Heintzelman KD6Y P Edwin R Jones, EC W7WPO P Andrew Kirk WB6CLS P Duncan MacMillan KI6VMY P Scott Overstreet, Co-Chair N6NXI P Sam Wood K6MSR E Others Present Call Sign Attendance Gary Waldeck, Council Liaison K6AIR P Bill Gibbons, associate K6GH P Neil Katin, associate AI6FI P Bert Raphael, associate KK6GNB P Bob Rowe, associate AF6LD P Ben H. L. Hu, CERT Recon KK6HH P Kjell Karlsson, visitor KD6BPP P 1. Roll Call: Co-chairs: Meeting called to order at 7:04 p.m. by Jim W6EB & Scott N6NXI. 2. ECC Minutes: Sep. 1. Scott moved to approve the minutes; second by Bob KC6ZWG. Approved with 1 abstention: Duncan KI6VMY. 3. Public comments from the floor: a. Welcome to Ben Hu KK6HH, scheduled for City Council consideration of his appointment to ECC membership on 10/14. b. Acknowledge reappointment of Jim H. KD6Y and Andy K. WB6CLS to ECC membership. 4. Reports: a. SCC EC: Ed W7WPO, EC. Ed reminded the team of the County Drill on Nov. 14. He will not be at the Nov. ECC meeting, and will not be available on Nov. 14. He advised that the drill focus is to make sure you have communication within the city, in particular, on simplex. He will send out information on the drill as it becomes available. Jim W6EB noted that there is a new plan to fingerprint DSW volunteers, largely because volunteers may need to interact with minors in disaster situations. b. LAH Town Council Report: Gary K6AIR, councilman. Gary reported that he decided not to pursue the concept of the council liaison having a voting membership to ensure there is no perception of vote influence from a liaison. He reported that Bruce Martin, who volunteered in large animal rescue at the Valley Fire, described an unfortunate LAH_ECC-FINAL-Minutes_Oct-6-2015 2 resource planning problem at the fire for rescue resources. In that light, Gary is pursuing a broader layer of emergency management for the LAH town emergency preparedness resources, and a volunteer coordination meeting is planned at the town. He reported that the proposed town Antenna Ordinance will be in public hearing at a special Planning Commission meeting on 10/22. Jim W6EB, who is a member of the Planning Commission, and Commissioner Kavita Tankha have been working with Town Planner Suzanne Avila on the proposed ordinance research and development. Gary said the K6AIR repeater is now up and running, thanks to 2 new Yaesu repeater units. c. Update on ECC Roster. Duncan KI6VMYreported he will send out the updated roster this month; he asked that people know their town zone as part of the roster information. d. Update on member/associate activity: Ray Egan. Deferred as Ray was out of town. e. ID card design report. Dru KG6LAD. Deferred because there has been no response on review/confirmation on the design proposal. 5. Old Business: a. ECC QRG (Quick Reference Guide): Update. Neil AI6FI. Neil reported that the sub-committee met, and is working on improvements to the QRG information organization. There was consensus on the committee that the document needed to have more information on actually how to initially operate the EOC until town EM is available. The team is developing a checklist for the first person(s) who may respond to the EOC to get things started. There was discussion of the inventory of town-issued equipment that is currently secured; Gary suggested noting links to other equipment. Andy KI6MAF, a subcommittee member, brought up the QRG team discussion of staffing at the ARK for ECC hams and recommended that packet operation at the ARK not be a first line assignment. If packet is needed, it could be operated by the CERT Recon hams with packet experience. He said the staffing at the ARK is two, if voice is needed – again, it would be more efficient for a CERT ham to operate voice when needed, as it may help solve the interference issue. He also suggested some equipment additions for operation ease, but there was no action at this time. Andy said satisfactory EOC ham operation would need 3-4 people. Neil noted that there are about 30 CERT Recon, many are cross-trained and some are ECC members. He said cross-training is a benefit, and then it could be regarded as a big pool of ham resource – to serve where needed. How to keep track of individual ham training was discussed; a motion on equipment was put forth by Dru, there was no second; no specific action was taken. b. LAH antenna ordinance update, Planning Commission subcommittee: Jim W6EB. Covered under Gary’s report. c. Status update on Antenna Tree upgrades: Jim W6EB & Scott N6NXI. Scott said the Granite Bay vendor dealing with the upgrades has viewed the site and taken under study Scott/Jim’s analysis that there needed to be correction of the ECC antennas as to showing them properly on the site drawing. Steve Padovan of the town planning staff is handling the cell tower/antenna tree matter. d. Report on possible antenna locations for ICOM 7000 at EOC. Jim H. KD6Y. This topic was deferred to the Nov. meeting. LAH_ECC-FINAL-Minutes_Oct-6-2015 3 6. Radio Room/EOC maintenance list. Scott N6NXI gave an update on his discussion with the town engineer as to generator maintenance tests. Scott said a serious test is to actually plan a true “shut down” and ensure the generator kicks in an operates effectively. There is some resistance due to impact on staff operations, but Scott said the discussion will be continued. 7. New Business: a. LAH Volunteer Coordination meeting. Covered in Gary’s report. 8. Adjourned. Nine in favor; There was a decision to adjourn at this point because Duncan pointed out that the meetings are posted as 7-8:30 p.m. The motion from Bob KC6ZWG was seconded by Andy KI6MAF. The vote was 9 in favor, 1 abstention from Scott. Scott wanted to continue with the Tech Talk portion, as is usually practiced until 9 p.m. It was agreed to continue, informally with the planned Tech Talk. 9. There were 2 Tech Talk items: a. Dru KG6LAD, reported on the highlights of a Disaster Psychology First Aid Training, sponsored by the SCCFD, that she attended that covered critical aspects for volunteers to keep in mind when dealing with people – either volunteers, or people impacted – in stress conditions. This included having a supportive attitude, rather than intimidating or “bossy” when approaching people, ensuring that oneself or fellow volunteers are encouraged to take a break when showing signs of stress, and realizing that, because of varied cultures and reserves, not everyone appreciates a “hug!” Be tuned in to where people are, and what they need. b. Stump the Chairs yielded several technical questions of Scott and Jim. The one that involved the most discussion was a thorough discussion of diodes. Key points were to stay within the ratings of diodes, which are used throughout electronic equipment, and to understand causes of failure. 10. At the conclusion of the informal discussion at 9 p.m., everyone informally disbanded, and the hall was secured. Respectfully submitted: Dru Anderson KG6LAD, ECC Secretary.