CERT Meeting
Town Hall ~ 8 am
Present: Samantha Brann, Jim Richardson, Chief Skantze, Chief Clark, Donna Quinn, Leslie Dion
Donna opened the meeting at 8:12 am. Marie, Beth, Joe & Tom are unable to be here. Norm suggested that we set a day and time for our meetings so that people can schedule it into their calendars. It was agreed that we would set the 3rd Tuesday at 9 am for CERT meetings. Norm suggested we send this out in an e-mail to all Council members. Donna will do this.
Trainings: We have held two trainings to date with Gene. It was agreed that we would have someone new do all other trainings as people benefit from different styles. Samantha said that she knows many people that would like to take the Train the Trainer class but that they need to go through Gene to do this and to date he has not set it up. She has her First Responders teach different sections of her trainings to share their expertise.
There was discussion regarding the NIMS ICS on-line training. The general feeling was that even if you take it on-line you should take the class as well since you can get a better understanding from the open discussions.
On April 26th we will offer NIMS ICS700. Norm would like to have these trainings open to Police, Fire, School, CERT and others. He feels it would go a long way in preparing everyone and getting all town employees on the same page in an emergency. The time for this class will be 8:30 am – 12:30 pm. Jim said he could have all the materials here so that we can administer the test right then. The following dates will also be scheduled:
¨ May 3rd: ICS100 Training
¨ May 24th: CPR/First Aid Training.
Sustainability: Donna reports that she and Samantha went to a training at Volunteer NH. They discussed the grants and the decrease in funding for the immediate future. The decision has been made by Volunteer NH to not fund any new CERT programs but to work on continued funding for existing ones. Samantha is funded in part by CERT and in part by the Pandemic Flu dollars. She works 32 hours with benefits. She has a lot of info on sustainability for volunteer programs with and without managers. At this point the grant pays Donna for 10 hours per week. She is already putting in more than that and as we grow it will become more involved in managing volunteers. Since we know that they want to fund existing CERTS Donna thinks we should consider collaborating with Samantha’s region to write a grant that would help sustain the management piece.
John asked if the Police & Fire support the Laconia group. Samantha reports that they do and the have offered an older vehicle for them to use. She said some of their smaller towns are less involved. John agrees that it makes some sense to regionalize. Norm said that Elizabeth was supportive of pursuing our share of grant money as long as it doesn’t raise taxes.
Donna said that they would not be combining regions but would collaborate to show how we can work together regionally with Franklin, Laconia/Gilford and Newfound. Samantha said that if we had resources available we could do a much better job of educating the public and giving volunteer opportunities to all of our citizens.
John added that it would be nice to have the Police Explorer program involved in the trainings as well.
Norm moved to put this on the April agenda with more info as right now we are in favor of pursuing the collaboration. John seconded and the motion passed.
Donna reports that the RFP for residual 2006 monies (from Volunteer NH) will be coming out soon. We will look to apply for additional funding for the coordinator position thru this grant. When the RFP is released she will let everyone know.
Respectfully Submitted,
Leslie Dion