Rich Dieffenbach: Welcome to the EIIP Virtual Forum Round Table! Rich Dieffenbach: My name is Rich Dieffenbach Rich Dieffenbach: And I am with the National Emergency Management Association. Rich Dieffenbach: A couple of quick reminders for any first timers with us today ... Rich Dieffenbach: The session will consist of a few minutes of introduction and overview, and then we will open it up to audience participation. Rich Dieffenbach: If a URL is displayed in the chat window, it will appear blue. If you click on it, it will open the linked Web page in your browser window. Rich Dieffenbach: After the first one, the window may not come to the top automatically, and be hidden behind your chat screen. Use the buttons on your status bar to bring the browser window forward. Rich Dieffenbach: Today I'd like to share with you what NEMA is doing, specifically our upcoming National Conference and the issues we'll be focusing on there. Rich Dieffenbach: I am pleased to see we have Mr. John Cline, Director of the Idaho Bureau of Disaster Services here Rich Dieffenbach: and Mr. Jim Loomis with the Fla. Division of Emergency Management Rich Dieffenbach: Both friends and members of NEMA! Rich Dieffenbach: For those of you who don't know, NEMA is the professional association of all 59 state, pacific and Caribbean insular emergency management directors. Rich Dieffenbach: But NEMA is also proud to have corporate members, individual members, and members from all levels of government--all of them interested in promoting state emergency management and em generally. Rich Dieffenbach: Our goal is to provide leadership and expertise in em, assist our members through our policy services and professional development, and promote an awareness of emergency management and the challenges we face. Rich Dieffenbach: In August, NEMA will be holding its annual conference in Des Moines, Iowa, the home of NEMA President Ellen Gordon. Rich Dieffenbach: The conference will be held from August 11 through 16 at the Marriott Hotel. Registration information and preliminary agenda are available on the NEMA web site, which I'll give you a little later. Rich Dieffenbach: We'll be focusing on a variety of issues at the conference that are important to all emergency managers Rich Dieffenbach: and responders Rich Dieffenbach: First, Y2K. Rich Dieffenbach: We'll be hearing from Peter Kind, who will be heading up the federal government's Information Coordination Center (ICC). We've also invited FEMA to discuss its Y2K preparedness. Rich Dieffenbach: Obviously, emergency managers and responders need to keep their eyes on this issue, which has the potential to be a big challenge come the New Year. Rich Dieffenbach: Second, EMAC. Rich Dieffenbach: As many of you may know, NEMA administers the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), the premier all- hazards interstate mutual aid compact. Rich Dieffenbach: George Foresman, Deputy Coordinator of VA emergency management will be there to discuss EMAC's successes, what we're doing (including a brand new web site/utility), and where we're going. Rich Dieffenbach: Third, fire suppression. Rich Dieffenbach: In the past two years, the fires in Florida and elsewhere around the country have been some of the costliest in history. Rich Dieffenbach: As a result, FEMA, NEMA and other stakeholders are sitting down to discuss re-engineering the fed's fire suppression program--to make it more effective and responsive to big challenges like wild land urban interface. Rich Dieffenbach: Mr. Loomis from Florida Emergency Management will be there to comment on his state's experiences and FEMA officials discuss their vision of the future. Rich Dieffenbach: Fourth, domestic terrorism. Rich Dieffenbach: With the Oklahoma and World Trade Center bombings, domestic terrorism has become a big issue for emergency management. This is because fighting terrorism is not only preventing it or stopping the culprits, its mobilizing resources and responding effectively and that's were em comes in. Rich Dieffenbach: At the conference, we'll be hearing from Tom Kuker, the head of the FBI's newly established National Domestic Preparedness Office. As you know, DOJ and the FBI have been tasked with heading up the federal domestic preparedness effort. Rich Dieffenbach: We'll also meet Laurie Robinson, Assistant US Attorney General, who heads up the Office of Justice Programs. One of their jobs is to assist state and local government with terrorism preparedness. She'll give us a status report on OJP's activities. Rich Dieffenbach: We'll also hear from Jim Makris, Director of the EPA's Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Office, which is also involved in terrorism preparedness. Rich Dieffenbach: Fifth, school safety. Jim Loomis: Rich, we have been joined by Eric Tolbert, Director, North Carolina...Welcome! Rich Dieffenbach: Hello Mr. Tolbert! Rich Dieffenbach: Sadly, incidents of school violence and school terrorism seems to be on the rise and like domestic terrorism, it will require effective response by school officials and government. Rich Dieffenbach: Many state emergency management agencies are stepping up to assist schools and local officials with school safety planning and preparedness. We'll be hearing from Gary McConnell, Director of GA emergency management, who has begun an aggressive school safety training program. We'll here what he has to say about that. Rich Dieffenbach: And as always, we've invited FEMA Director James Lee Witt and his senior staff to brief us on FEMA's activities and their legislative agenda. As usual, the programs covered in the FEMA budget are of particular concern to state em. Rich Dieffenbach: Congress is also considering amending the Stafford Act, the law that governs federal disaster response and assistance. Rich Dieffenbach: So there are a lot of timely issues that we in NEMA are focusing on. Rich Dieffenbach: Before we discuss any of these issues, I'd like to introduce Eric Tolbert to the forum. Rich Dieffenbach: Mr. Tolbert has long been a proponent of professional standards for emergency management. Rich Dieffenbach: He is currently heading up NEMA's effort to develop a set of national standards and establish a system of accreditation for em programs. We're real excited about this effort. Rich Dieffenbach: Mr. Tolbert, would you like to say a few words about this? Eric: Greetings everyone from the great State of North Carolina. This is my first time joining this distinguished group. Please excuse my amateurish submissions. Eric: On accreditation, we're moving a bit behind schedule due to funding constraints. Eric: We have scheduled in conjunction with NEMA and IAEM a test seminar to develop standards in three of the CAR Emergency Management Functions next month. We're looking forward to this experiment. Rich Dieffenbach: By CAR Rich Dieffenbach: You mean FEMA's Capability for Assessment Readiness Rich Dieffenbach: Could you explain how CAR and the NFPA's standards fit in with this? Eric: In essence what we will do is take the criteria established in the NEMA/FEMA Capability Assessment of Readiness, and develop descriptions of what a inspection team would expect to find upon a site visit. Eric: Fortunately, it's all getting tied together well, as it currently appears. The NFPA-1600 is closely tied to the CAR. In fact, the criteria are virtually identical. This ultimately will avoid duplicated tools for self and peer evaluation. Rich Dieffenbach: Thank you. Rich Dieffenbach: We now invite your questions or comments, however please first enter just a question mark to indicate you wish to contribute, prepare your comment, but wait until you are recognized by name... Rich Dieffenbach: then either hit the Enter key or click on the Send button. We will take comments in the order the question marks are submitted. Eric: I can only speak speculatively at this time, because we've still got to convene a work group to conduct this first experiment in July. Again, IAEM and NEMA will work collaboratively on this initiative. audra kunf: ? SteveCharvat: ? Amy Sebring: ? Rich Dieffenbach: Audra please audra kunf: Mr. Tolbert: how does the NEMA/IEM certification program(s) affect the No. Caroline CEM Levels I-IVE certs please? audra kunf: do I need to 'dump' my out of state certificates and re- apply? Eric: An additional benefit I seen in this is the draft Emergency Management Preparedness Grants. Eric: The accreditation is designed to be agency/system oriented, not individuals. This will be an assessment of the "system", including it's personnel. kevin starbuck: ? Rich Dieffenbach: Steve please Eric: What I was briefed on last week by FEMA, back to the EMP grants, is that FEMA encourages complete connectivity between funding streams and the CAR. In other words, connect funding to development of capabilities. Most states are currently using a strategic plan. Those who are will see major benefits in reduction of multiple reporting systems. audra kunf: ? Rich Dieffenbach: How about Amy please. Amy Sebring: Eric, the last time I heard you speak on this issue, you mentioned that there might be some possible incentives from insurance companies. Has anything further transpired in this area and will there be any additional incentives via new insurance requirements for the public sector under the Public Assistance program? SteveCharvat: I am working on a project for the US Army Corps of Engineers and was wondering if the EMAC has successfully been used to date? Eric: Incentives from insurance companies is only speculative at this time. In NC we have begun to have insurers asking us for an evaluation of local emergency management capability for bond rating purposes. If this happens, and there is a monetary incentive established from bonding/insurance ratings, we'll really see a radical overhaul in the EM system nationally. Again, there's only speculation as to what positive effects can come from this accreditation methodology. I'm sure there are negative Eric: EMAC has been successfully used many times. Probably the largest deployment to date was for the Florida fires. Are you referring to infrastructural/engineering applications for EMAC? Eric: The Southeastern Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (SASHTO) are meeting in Memphis as we speak working on further development of these applications. Rich Dieffenbach: Kevin please. kevin starbuck: Since funding is a current problem - I would guess there will need to be "fees associated with accreditation. If this is the case what will be the value of being accredited - in other words how would I justify this as a budget item to elected officials. Bond rates and insurance can be tied to fire rates but will be hard to sell without positive mitigation issues like severe building codes which is a whole new issue. Amy Sebring: ? Eric: Persons within FEMA have suggested that accreditation "could" be a consideration toward federal share for disaster relief. In other words, maybe an automatic 80-85% federal share for accredited jurisdictions. Again, all speculation as to the financial incentives at this time. Rich Dieffenbach: I would like to go ahead and welcome Myra Thompson Lee to the discussion today. MTLee: Thank you. Glad to be here. Rich Dieffenbach: Ms. Lee is the Director of the Oregon Emergency Management Office... Eric: We're committed (in NC) to the accreditation process just to ensure we can provide a level of service that meets our public's expectations. Accreditation is just one means of demonstrating we can accomplish that. We're fortunate to have elected official commitment toward this initiative. Rich Dieffenbach: NEMA Secretary and member of our Y2K work group. Rich Dieffenbach: We had a question about standards from Audra, please. Rich Dieffenbach: Okay, another question from Amy. Amy Sebring: Do I understand we have a new acronym, EMGP? Emergency Management Preparedness Grants? Is this a proposal to replace the SLA/50 grants? Amy Sebring: oops EMPG Rich Dieffenbach: Would any of the Directors wish to address this? Eric: EMPG is a collapsing of several (probably 10-12) FEMA funding streams to the states into 2. audra kunf: is the CAR another 'take off' on what used to be the HICA-MYDP and then later the CHIP? Eric: It does include SLA-50, SLA-100, DPIG, etc. Ultimately it could eliminate many acronyms. MTLee: It does not include CSEPP or terrorism. Eric: CAR could be described as a later evolution of those documents. It's far more comprehensive, however, and currently is only designed as a state-level evaluation. Amy Sebring: ? Rich Dieffenbach: Amy please. Amy Sebring: Is the accreditation program envisioned as public sector only ... Amy Sebring: or do you anticipate some future development towards the private sector? Eric: I believe terrorism and CSEPP are under the part 2 of EMPG. I'm really not sure at this point. The guidance being circulated is still draft. Eric: Private sector involvement is an area we've just begun discussing as a result of the NFPA 1600 changes made during final review. Eric: Some of us believe that the private sector involvement should be measured as part of the organizational evaluation. In other words, the public sector evaluation could include elements to address private sector involvement. There hasn't been discussion of a separate private sector accreditation through NEMA. kevin starbuck: ? Rich Dieffenbach: Kevin please. Rich Dieffenbach: And then we'll switch gears on another topic. kevin starbuck: General NEMA question - has any consideration been given to offering NEMA membership to State EM Associations? Rich Dieffenbach: Any directors? John Cline: What state em associations do you mean? Eric: I haven't kept up with the business aspects of NEMA. I guess if there's an interest we could put that into the proper committee in Des Moines? Libbi Rucker Reed: ! kevin starbuck: My boss is currently the president of the Emergency Management Assoc. of Texas - this is the type organization we are talking about - State Associations of Emergency Managers. Eric: I believe there is a "organizational" category of NEMA membership? John Cline: There are private organization memberships that the association could be part of, I'm sure. Rich Dieffenbach: That sounds right. MTLee: Kevin, NEMA has liaison relationships with IAEM as the primary representative of local EM's. Do the State associations have membership in IAEM? Avagene Moore: I believe some State Associations are members. kevin starbuck: Currently EM associations are recognized by IAME with partnerships - which we are one Rich Dieffenbach: Well, let's move on to another issue that has captured the attention of emergency management. Libbi Rucker Reed: Not the EM association president here, but would love to see more interaction between NEMA and state associations AND between the state associations themselves. TN has worked on getting interaction between the FEMA Reg. IV states in the southeast for a couple of years now. We have had a total of 3 meetings and hope for more as the individual states agree to host them. Rich Dieffenbach: We at NEMA have also become involved with the issue of Y2K MTLee: The strength of State Associations will be increased if all of them participate and support IAEM rather than attempting to establish individual relationships. Rich Dieffenbach: Our President is a member of the Pres.'s Y2K Council's Rich Dieffenbach: Senior Advisory Committee... David Crews: ? Rich Dieffenbach: And we have a working group which has been working with FEMA Rich Dieffenbach: All these efforts are aimed at Rich Dieffenbach: getting the states' points of view to the federal government Rich Dieffenbach: and to better coordinate Y2K response when the time comes... Rich Dieffenbach: Before we take a question, I'd like to ask Ms. Lee, who is one of the NEMA leads on Y2K, to share her thoughts on this issue. Rich Dieffenbach: Myra? MTLee: Thank you. MTLee: We are all concerned about Y2K however, I think it's important to remember that Y2K, in and of itself will not be the disaster. MTLee: Whatever occurs at that time of year may be complicated by a failure of some system. MTLee: But, it is the consequences of whatever is causing problems that people need to worry about, not whether it is Y2K related. Rich Dieffenbach: Ms. Lee, what is the role and mission of em in dealing with these disruptions? MTLee: It is unlikely that there would be a nationwide outage that would affect everyone. Handling emergency situation is just part of the job. It doesn't matter whether a power outage occurred do to a Y2K failure. It only matters that people may suffer because their power is gone. Rich Dieffenbach: Before he goes, I want to thank Eric Tolbert for his participation. MTLee: EM are going to be dealing with the affects of existing conditions. What is happening to people needs to be the consideration. Eric: Thanks for the opportunity to participate. Look forward to joining these in the future! Rich Dieffenbach: Kevin, you had a question please. MTLee: The technical experts will be dealing with getting things back on line for whatever reason they may be out. kevin starbuck: Already answered, Thanks. audra kunf: ? Rich Dieffenbach: Audra please. audra kunf: just a curiosity matter: the EIIP list serve has been discussing what's more important in emer. mgmt staff--experience vs. education MTLee: I would caution that no one jump to "labeling" something as a Y2K emergency. In all likelihood you won't know. audra kunf: am curious regarding how the NEMA members view the question Rich Dieffenbach: Ms. Lee? Mr. Cline? Jim Loomis: ! Rich Dieffenbach: Mr. Loomis please. MTLee: You can't have one without the other, and be effective. David Crews: ? Rich Dieffenbach: David please. Jim Loomis: I want to express my appreciation To Myra Lee for putting some realism into the Y2K problem. I believe she is right on target! Amy Sebring: Rich, we have a host of topics for future NEMA sessions ... Amy Sebring: but we are running over... Amy Sebring: on behalf of EIIP I would like to thank you for an excellent job ... Rich Dieffenbach: Thanks for the reality check, Amy. Amy Sebring: all the NEMA members here today ... Amy Sebring: and members of our audience. Rich Dieffenbach: And thank you all for participating today. MTLee: Goodbye. Thanks Amy Sebring: This has been a very good session ..l. Rich Dieffenbach: We at NEMA think this is a great forum Amy Sebring: we will have the transcript up later today ... Isabel McCurdy: I would like to encourage everyone to update their user profiles. Rich Dieffenbach: and we look forward to doing this again. Amy Sebring: I would also like to mention that ... Amy Sebring: the Partner room is available for private meetings for partners .. Amy Sebring: and NEMA is a partner and welcome to use. Amy Sebring: Now let's get the upcoming from Ava please. Avagene Moore: Thank you, Rich. Before doing the events, want to say this has been a most informative session -- thanks to you and the NEMA members who participated with us today! ... Rich Dieffenbach: Great! And one final thing... Rich Dieffenbach: If you are all interested in what we at NEMA are doing, check out our web site at www.nemaweb.org Avagene Moore: Tomorrow, Weds June 30, 12: 00 Noon EDT, we have a Tech Arena presentation by Mr. George Sambataro, demonstrating PC Weather Products, more specifically -- hurricane tracking software. Avagene Moore: Next week.... Avagene Moore: the Tuesday Round Table, July 6, 12: 00 Noon EDT, will be led by Rocky Lopes, American Red Cross, as part of the FEMA Community & Family Preparedness monthly session. Avagene Moore: Weds, July 7, 12: 00 Noon EDT: The Virtual Classroom features Bomb Threat Management with Jim McGinty, Protection Planning, Chairman of Police Officers Tactical Operations Association. Avagene Moore: That's it, Amy. Amy Sebring: This concludes our session, but you are welcome to stay for open discussion.