HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary 6LAHECC_Minutes_02062018_Feb-FINAL.docx 1
Emergency Communications Committee Minutes
Tuesday, Feb 6, 2018, 7:00 pm
LAH Town Hall Council Chambers: 26379 Fremont Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
Members Call Sign Attendance
Dru Anderson, Co-Chair KG6LAD P
Bob Anderson KC6ZWG E
Jim Heintzelman KD6Y E
Ben H. L. Hu, Secretary KK6HH P
Edwin R Jones W7WPO P
Andrew Kirk WB6CLS P
Scott Overstreet, Co-Chair N6NXI P
Sam Wood K6MSR P
Council/Staff ------
Gary Waldeck, Council Liaison K6AIR P
Associate Members ------
Larry Carr KE6AGJ P
Neil Katin – EC K2LL P
Bill Gibbons K6GH P
Craig Miller WA6OXK P
Kjell Karlsson KD6BPP P
Bill Lattin KK6PCA P
Greg Olsen K6XM P
1.Roll Call: Co-chair Dru KG6LAD called the meeting to order @ 1900 hours
and took the roll call. Attendance (14): 6 members, Council Liaison Gary
K6AIR and 7 associates. A quorum was present at the meeting.
2.Minutes approved: Scott N6NXI moved to approve the Jan. 2018 minutes,
and Andy WB6CLS seconded the motion. The motion was approved
unanimously by all 6 ECC members present.
3.Public comments from the floor:
a.Scott expressed his wishes not to be re-elected for the next co-chair as he
had served the committee as chair and co-chair many times.
b.Gary stated that the 2-term limit for the chair of a town committee should
only apply to three committees that impact directly on the daily life of
townsfolk. Special committees such as ECC or finance committee, which
need specialized expertise, and which do not directly impact on the people
should be exempted from this rule. He would put forward this item on the
town Council agenda at earliest opportunity. Dru emphasized that new
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blood was needed for the leadership of the committee, and that she is also
happy to have new leadership to take over since she had also held the
chair position for several years, as well as co-chair position, and multiple
terms as committee secretary.
4.ECC Activities and related:
a.LAH Council Liaison Gary Waldeck K6AIR commented and suggested:
The ECC possibly re-think its charter to enlarge its scope to include all
Emergency Preparedness for the Town. The co-chairs note that
considerable update on the ECC charter was done within the past 2
years, with substantial input from committee members and associates.
He suggested that the ECC develop a proposal to the Town Council
about either a new structure, or to how to organize the enlarged
committee and recruit additional volunteers. The co-chairs note that a
ECC report to council is scheduled in June.
In addition to Ham operators, he suggested:
1.that other experts such as non-ham IT professionals also
could be included.
2.The new organization should encompass both CERT and
the ECC plus other new parts related to the emergency
preparedness.
3.There should be only one top leader who would be
responsible for the emergency preparedness.
Gary noted that Roger Spreen, LAH council member, is the current
lead from LAH to Los Altos Hills County Fire District (LAHCFD) to
discuss the management of CERT and its close cooperation with ECC.
The issue of DSW status of residents currently not in the town of LAH
would then be resolved.
Dru then opened the floor asking many present to express their ideas and
thoughts.
Larry KE6AGJ remarked:
Since the CERT Recon (licensed ham CERT field team) has been
inactive recently, he has been thinking about how to revitalize the
team.
He would start new Recon activities starting in May this year.
He would recruit new as well as established hams by showing two
possible paths to utilize/enhance their Ham skills.
o To participate CERT Recon activities: first report in with Ham
radio using the Mike-Mike scale to describe the damage level in
a town survey after an earthquake and then step up with
improving skills to become a net control.
o To participate ECC activities for Town’s EOC operation.
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He asked for a few volunteers to help him to organize for the first 2018
Recon exercise in May.
It was agreed that whether ECC or CERT, leadership in all these
activities requires a lot of time and efforts both in the preparation and
exercise stages.
Bill Lattin KK6PCA commented:
He agreed with the position that CERT and ECC should be under one
umbrella management structure.
The leader of the new management should be a resourceful and
dynamic one.
Bill said that when he acted as IC of the pathway run, he was
astonished as to how much time and effort he had to do behind the
scenes in preparing activities to accomplish the task.
He suggested that a small core group was needed to formulate the
new proposal that Gary had suggested.
Sam Wood K6MSR:
He joined the ECC, he said, to put his ham radio skills to work. Sam is
a charter member of ECC, and involved in specific interests in
microwave internet communication, as well as the work on the W6LAH
repeater subgroup.
He said he prefers to focus his volunteer participation by applying his
amateur radio and related experience and skills rather than add skills
in triage or traffic control.
Dru’s rejoinder was that the new organization might not require everyone
to learn new skills in all emergency work. The organization that Gary
suggested, she believed, could have specialized departments, staffed with
specialists in each field.
Bill Gibbons K6GH stated that he supported the broadening of the ECC
mission, but he was concerned with the lack of strong staff leadership at
CERT for the present.
Scott Overstreet N6NXI:
He recounted how ECC was formed in 2001 after the safety committee
was disbanded and a lot of good lessons has been and still could be
learned from the experience.
In order for a new organization, such as Gary proposed to succeed, a
dynamic, strong, vocal, and personable staff leader is essential.
The strong support of Town Council is also critical to the success of
hiring and retention of a new “professional” top leader for the new
organization.
Dru then proposed to caucus with Scott to review the revised ECC charter
and explore action items to be discussed in the next meeting. She
summarized Gary’s main points
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Work with currently active CERT ham volunteer leaders to
Inventory skill levels at both CERT and ECC and progression.
If it’s the Council’s preference, work with town emergency
management staff to develop response to either a new structure
or a clear interface among the emergency response activities in
the town.
Suggest needs and qualifications for a new professional
leadership in response to the town emergency management’s
objectives for interrelationship with the CERT program in LAH.
b. Neil K2LL reported:
He intended to skip the County’s ARES February “City” exercise in order
to focus on the May one.
He called attention to the March’s Net control course offered by the Santa
Clara County ARES.
He would email the list of alt-EOC equipment in time to discuss at the next
meeting.
5. Old Business:
i.Proposed purchase list for Alt-EOC – Deferred to March.
ii.The consensus was that the current storage arrangement, negotiated
by Duncan KI6VMY with the city clerk, is considered sufficient for
supplemental Alt-EOC gear.
iii.Proposal to use Group SMS and/or email to report urgent messages to
the ECC group. Neil had set up and would use the system to send
email/SMS to the group and await replies to check out the set-up.
iv.Encouragement of MAC-qualified operator training for future possible
use of Packet operation to reach County emergency service in case of
failure of 911 access. Neil stated that the city of Cupertino had fully
implemented the system with 8 MAC-qualified operators who could be
dispatched to different 911 sites to receive Packet messages. He asked
volunteers to take preparatory training for MAC-qualified status.
6. New Business:
a.Discuss objectives for ECC 2018 activity, training, and member recruitment.
Extensive discussion had been done under Sec 4a.
b.ECC members/associates discussions: understanding town objectives relative to
interaction of CERT with ECC objectives, training and planning:
Extensive discussion had been done under Sec 4a.
c.Appoint lead for a Go-Kit “show and tell” at March ECC meeting.
Bill KK6PCA is appointed and will bring his Go-Kit to the next meeting.
Other members and associates will also bring their own for comparison to
learn from each other.
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7. Tech Talk
Update on AREDN activities and progress: Neil reported he had found no line of
sight between PHWD tank tower and EOC or ARK at Foothill. Sam said he had a
microwave link between his home site and the PHWD office and through another
connection with Jim’s W6EB. Neil then asked whether there could be a microwave
link between the water district office and the EOC, and the answer seemed to be
positive. Neil did say he could see the Channing house (where County station is
located) from the Water tank location.
Scott once more encouraged people present to email him or Dru on the topics of
interests to be present in the Tech Talk. Dru also stated they would welcome anyone
willing to give a Tech Talk on a topic of interest or skill area.
8. Upcoming Reminders:
Dru reminded all hands about signing up for various alerts noted below. She said the
QRG link on the LAH town website has been updated.
LAH town events: http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/calendar.aspx
a.ARES/RACES courses & events: http://www.scc-ares-races.org/aresraces.htm
b.CERT & PEP training; CERT Supervisors and members activities:
http://www.lahcfd.org/community-programs/public-classes
c.Links: Town Alerts: http://www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/381/EMERGENCY-ALERTS
Alert SCC: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/alertscc/Pages/home.aspx
d.ECC QRG (Quick Reference Guide) available online at: https://goo.gl/h93sye
9. Adjourn: Upon a motion by Ed W7WPO, seconded by Andy, the adjournment was
approved unanimously at 20:30 hours.
Respectfully submitted: Ben Hu KK6HH, Secretary