Town of Halifax, Vermont
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES- DRAFT
May 08, 2013
Call to Order
The Selectboard met at the Halifax Fire Station, calling the meeting to order at 9:15 am for the purpose of participating in a Vermont Yankee Drill. Present were Selectboard members Earl Holtz, Edee Edwards, and Lewis Sumner. Other Emergency Operations Staff included John LaFlamme, Ross Barnett, Leonard Derby, Patricia Dow, Travis Briggs, Brad Rafus, Wayne Courser, Susan Kelly, Frank Maltese, Paul Blais, Andy Rice, and Cara Cheyette. Evaluating was **Andy
Vermont Yankee Drill
The Selectboard gave incident command to John LaFlamme as the drill opened. The general scenario of this drill included an escalation to a General Emergency with the towns of Brattleboro, Guilford, Dummerston and Vernon evacuating, while Marlboro and Halifax were not evacuated, presumably due to the wind direction. Injections to the drill included a call from a lactating woman who had taken her Potassium Iodide without being told to do so, and who was concerned about feeding her baby. Halifax referred this question to Sue Kelly in her role as health officer. Another injection to the scenario was traffic accidents and road closures. The drill ended with the radiation release being contained, at 1:46 pm
Hot Wash /Hearing of Visitors
After the drill, participants gave feedback on good points and issues. Positive feedback included having DisasterLAN displayed for all in the room using the projection unit. Issues included needing to make the call to simulate early staging of the buses before the less important task of giving a briefing, making the decision to get Selectboard members to the drill without a lengthy discussion, and trying to sort through whether the present plan has adequate, but not too much, redundancy built in. Noise, the rather impossibly slow computer in the corner, and internet connectivity were also discussed. Overall, with a number of people playing new roles, the drill went well. Edwards noted she would not be at the June drill due to work travel.
Other Business
Sumner noted that he’d been talking to Cold River and John Alexander of VTrans. John Alexander thought it was the town’s responsibility to remove the temporary bridge on Deer Park with the intersection of Green River and deliver it to Mendon. In the meantime, Cold River was going to fax an estimate to the town for the cost of doing the removal. Edwards advised that Sumner should check to see if our original contract with the state included removal, as they had done the installation. Sumner agreed to do that and to call as special or emergency meeting if needed to discuss the issue further.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 2:20 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Edee Edwards
Selectboard ChairOFFICE OF THE SELECTBOARD
Town of Halifax, Vermont
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES- DRAFT
May 08, 2013
Call to Order
The Selectboard met at the Halifax Fire Station, calling the meeting to order at 9:15 am for the purpose of participating in a Vermont Yankee Drill. Present were Selectboard members Earl Holtz, Edee Edwards, and Lewis Sumner. Other Emergency Operations Staff included John LaFlamme, Ross Barnett, Leonard Derby, Patricia Dow, Travis Briggs, Brad Rafus, Wayne Courser, Susan Kelly, Frank Maltese, Paul Blais, Andy Rice, and Cara Cheyette. Evaluating was **Andy
Vermont Yankee Drill
The Selectboard gave incident command to John LaFlamme as the drill opened. The general scenario of this drill included an escalation to a General Emergency with the towns of Brattleboro, Guilford, Dummerston and Vernon evacuating, while Marlboro and Halifax were not evacuated, presumably due to the wind direction. Injections to the drill included a call from a lactating woman who had taken her Potassium Iodide without being told to do so, and who was concerned about feeding her baby. Halifax referred this question to Sue Kelly in her role as health officer. Another injection to the scenario was traffic accidents and road closures. The drill ended with the radiation release being contained, at 1:46 pm
Hot Wash /Hearing of Visitors
After the drill, participants gave feedback on good points and issues. Positive feedback included having DisasterLAN displayed for all in the room using the projection unit. Issues included needing to make the call to simulate early staging of the buses before the less important task of giving a briefing, making the decision to get Selectboard members to the drill without a lengthy discussion, and trying to sort through whether the present plan has adequate, but not too much, redundancy built in. Noise, the rather impossibly slow computer in the corner, and internet connectivity were also discussed. Overall, with a number of people playing new roles, the drill went well. Edwards noted she would not be at the June drill due to work travel.
Other Business
Sumner noted that he’d been talking to Cold River and John Alexander of VTrans. John Alexander thought it was the town’s responsibility to remove the temporary bridge on Deer Park with the intersection of Green River and deliver it to Mendon. In the meantime, Cold River was going to fax an estimate to the town for the cost of doing the removal. Edwards advised that Sumner should check to see if our original contract with the state included removal, as they had done the installation. Sumner agreed to do that and to call as special or emergency meeting if needed to discuss the issue further.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 2:20 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Edee Edwards
Selectboard Chair