HomeMy WebLinkAboutSeptember 2014GRANT COUNTY EMERGENCY DISASTER SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING
GRANT COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT CENTER
Lancaster, WI 53813
September 8, 2014
The Grant County Emergency Disaster’s Services was called to order September 8, 2014. At 10:00 a.m.
by Chairman Bob Keeney. The following members and personnel were present:
EMERGENCY DISASTER SERVICES COMMITTEE: Gary Ranum, Larry Wolf, John Patcle, Bob Scallon, and
Pat Schroeder. Lester Jantzen asked to be excused.
GUESTS: Grant County Coroner Ron Sturmer, Kelly Bird, Grant County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Nate
Dreckman, Grant County Sheriff’s Office, Chief Deputy Jack Johnson, Grant County Sheriff’s Office, Steve
Braun, Emergency Government and Tonya White, Recording Secretary.
Steve Braun verified the agenda has been posted by Linda Gebhard and it was posted on the county
website. John second by Pat approved the agenda. Larry second by Gary approved the minutes. Pat
second by Gary approved the bills. All above motions carried.
Public Comments: None
Director’s Monthly Report: Steve reported that the Muscoda Fire Department officially was awarded an
AFG grant. They were awarded around $20,000 for a variety of firefighting equipment. Steve passed
out a list of the awards that were given to Wisconsin Fire and EMS units. So far, there have only been
around 40 awards in the state which puts Wisconsin far behind others. There are still a few regional
grants that we haven't heard back on which may be awarded but for the most part the awards are
wrapping up.
Also under the Director’s Monthly Report Steve passed out a few pictures of a rope rescue training that
was offered in August. The class portion was done at Southwest Technical College in Fennimore and the
practical was done at the Wyalusing State Park. Steve also spoke about the call the Technical Rescue
Team had at Nelson Dewey State Park on August 31st. There was a hiker who fell off the trail about 15
feet and then rolled a considerable distance down a steep bluff. She had significant injuries from the
fall. Cassville Fire Department started the rescue and then the regional team assisted once they got
there and rotated members in and out with the fire department. Members came from Grant, Crawford
and Lafayette Counties. There was a landing zone set up at Stonefield for Medflight to land and flew her
out from there.
Under Old Business Steve spoke about the 2013 Flooding. The State did approve the use of EAP money
for the purchase of the property in the Village of Patch Grove. In the future this property may be used
to help the Highway Department and the Village with drainage issues in that area along Highway 35.
Dale Klemme is moving forward with the project for us and is working on getting the appraisal done.
We are also still working with a few towns who are having some problems with projects that should
have been included by FEMA but were not. We had a State representative come in for a meeting with
Towns officials to help get issues straightened out.
Steve also spoke a bit about the brainstorming meeting we had with FEMA regarding the mitigation
program. We talked with them about our top mitigation priorities and what we feel would be best for
the County. Of particular concern was our desire to find some planning funding to evaluate potential
solutions for stormwater retention in Potosi, as well as tornado shelters in communities that have none
available.
Also under Old Business Steve gave an update on the grant funded communications upgrades he is
working on with the Sheriff’s Office. The State Patrol did waive the study for the Happy Corners tower
site, which will save the Sheriff's Office a considerable amount. Since the study was waived they did get
the South tower moved to the Happy Corners site. While in the process of moving the equipment it was
discovered that the cable for the County Fire frequency antenna was plugged into the wrong equipment,
by a communications contractor who was working on other projects at the building. The next phase of
the project will be equipping the new Fennimore site. Comelec will be taking equipment from our
existing tower sites back to Dubuque to make sure that it all talks to each other correctly before it is
installed on the towers.
Steve then gave an update on the June weather events that hit the County. The Platteville Tornado
Fund Committee will be meeting tonight. They have around twenty applications. Case Manager Dave
Janney has been meeting with families as the applications are submitted and finding out what their
needs may be. The City of Platteville has put an application in for the Wisconsin Disaster Fund and they
got a positive response from the State. Once the City settles their insurance claim the State will go
through all the paperwork with the City. The WI Department of Administration did give a definite “no”
on rolling over the CDBG funding that is left from the 2013 flooding towards the Platteville tornado
victims. Steve also got an email this morning stating that the USDA got the funding approval for farmers
who lost cattle and buildings in the June storms.
Under New Business Steve passed out the proposed 2015 budget. Steve is anticipating the EMPG
funding to go up this year. Also under revenue EPCRA is based on the number of facilities in Grant
County that need to report their chemicals. We do have a few new facilities in the county so that should
stay about the same because of the farms that were taken off the reporting list. The Hazmat equipment
grant will remain around the same it has in the past. Regional Hazmat is given by the State to the
hazmat teams to get the team up to date on equipment that is required in order to be a state team.
Steve noted that he took $4000 out of the hazmat fund to help offset the fuel and storage shed rent
amounts. On the expense end Steve and Nancy went through the budget line by line and made a few
changes. Overall, the increase to the budget is $2607 over last year and that includes a 2% increase in
wages. Nancy and Steve also talked about how to sell the boat and set up a PayPal account. Steve
expects to sell the boat by the end of the year. Bob K. asked about the overage for the 2014 budget and
if there is any carry over that can be used. Steve said there really is not any carryover funding to use for
that purpose, but he hopes that despite the busy summer our overage will not be substantial. The
current finance report shows that we are around 75% of our 2014 budget being used, which is close to
where we should be. Larry made a motion second by Bob S to move the budget forward. Motion
carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Tonya White, Recording Secretary