Galesburg Reporter

City of Galesburg Knox County Local Emergency Planning Committee met April 22

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Brock Schmitt, Randy Hovind, Jim Cueno, Jared Hawkinson, Mandy Dixon, Kevin Legate, Tyler Nelson, Richie Springer, David Buchanan, John Seitz, Russ Idle and Jenni Moser.

LEPC Chairman Brock Schmitt called the Regular Meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes from the April 25, 2023 meeting were reviewed by Chairman Schmitt.

Springer made a motion, seconded by Dixon that the minutes as presented be approved.

Ayes: Brock Schmitt, Randy Hovind, Jim Cueno, Jared Hawkinson, Mandy Dixon, Kevin Legate, Tyler Nelson, Richie Springer, David Buchanan, John Seitz and Russ Idle

Nays: None

Chairman declared motion carried.

OLD BUSINESS

None

NEW BUSINESS

TIER II REPORTS

Schmitt showed the Committee the newly launched IEMA website that lists all Tier II reported locations by County. Knox County has 49 reported, of which 21 are inactive. Most of the inactive ones are no longer in business. The rest did not submit their Teir II reports.

Schmitt stated he can open the business it shows what they have reported and includes a site plan showing where the chemicals are stored. He said this is a huge asset to our Hazmat team when making responses.

HAZMAT TEAM

Schmitt stated the team is in a good position to make responses. Illinois has 18 teams currently.

Only three of the teams are not from the Chicago area.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT REPORT – None

KNOX COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (KCEMA)

• Chief Hovind, KCEMA Coordinator stated he is working on a full scale exercise. Mini training exercises were held in March on NIMS and ICS 100.

• Allure Facilities is looking at having a full scale this year. Hovind has been working with Joe Rundle to get this set up.

• GFD’s Captain Grodjesk 

o assisting with EMA training and developing the exercises.

o Attended Region 2 meeting. Reunification of schools was discussed. This would take the pressure off of schools. EMA would take over as they already have set up in place. Chief has not seen the plan yet. When he receives it he will share it.

• COOP – training between the City and County for when there is an event having a plan in place.

• Chief will attend the April 24th County Board meeting where a mutual aid agreement between the County and Williamsfield School District regarding electric school buses.

The electric buses do not work well in really cold weather. Any personnel or damages to equipment by responding agencies would be reimbursed through FEMA.

• New required reporting to be completed with and storms coming through the area. All online.

GALESBURG/KNOX COUNTY DISPATCH

Wednesday, April 24th the Galesburg/Knox County Dispatch Center will be transitioning to the Statewide AT&T ESInet (Emergency Services IP Network) for 911 phone services. Previous testing went well. No major issues are expected. This is a major milestone towards upgrading to Next Generation (NG) 911 and is also State mandated.

GALESBURG POLICE DEPARTMENT (GPD)

GPD & GFD will be transitioning to Starcom radios. Sherrif is already using it. Starcom is very expensive, so most volunteer departments will not be able to get it. There is also a lot of infrastructure work to be done.

OTHER BUSINESS

Duane Ratermann from Knox County Highway suggested that LEPC look into joining IPWA.

Cost is $250 per year. Discussion was held on how IPWA would benefit the county.

INCIDENTS & RESPONSES

Chairman Schmitt informed the group regarding when Galesburg Fire Department (GFD) responded to a call on February 8, 2024, to a hazmat release incident at the State of Illinois owned facility located at 3150 Log City Trail.

PUBLIC COMMENT

No public comment.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Chairman Brock Schmitt and seconded by Russ Idle to adjourn the meeting at 2:35 p.m. The vote was unanimous.

https://cms7files.revize.com/galesburg/Document_Center/Agendas%20and%20Minutes/LEPC/2024.04.23%20LEPC%20Minutes.pdf