Minutes of HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group

1. Welcome/Apologies/Notices

Chairman Wilson welcomed everyone present to the meeting.

There were no notices.

CDE1/15

Resolution:

That apologies from L Yule, Mayor, Hastings District Council and J Freeman, Chief Executive, Central Hawke’s Bay District Council be accepted.

Butler/Little

CARRIED

2. Conflict of Interest Declarations

There were no conflict of interest declarations.

3. Confirmation of Minutes of the HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group held on 20 june 2014

CDE2/15

Resolution:

Minutes of the HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group held on Friday, 20 June 2014, a copy having been circulated prior to the meeting, were taken as read and confirmed.

Wilson/Dalton

CARRIED

4. Matters Arising from Minutes of the HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group held on 20 june 2014

There were no matters arising from the minutes.

5.	Call for General Business
	Monitoring and Evaluation – Andrew Hickey

Appointment of New Controllers

Mr Macdonald provided an overview of appointments of new controllers. Changes are needed to the list of Local Controllers due to staff resignations.

Under the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 (CDEM Act) the Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee makes appointments to the positions of Group and Local Controller. Under section 26 of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 only the HB CDEM Group Joint Committee can make appointments to the role of Controller.

In response to a question, Mr Macdonald advised the Committee if an appointment is made, the role is not active until agreed by the Joint Committee. In the meantime the Group Controller can delegate tasks to the new appointee.

CDE3/15

Resolutions:

That the Committee:

1. Agrees that the decisions to be made are not significant under the criteria contained in the adopted policy on significance and that the Committee can exercise its discretion under Sections 79(1)(a) and 82(3) of the Local Government Act 2002 and make decisions on this issue without conferring directly with the community and persons likely to be affected by or to have an interest in the decision due to the nature and significance of the issue to be considered and decided.

2. Resolves to make the appointment of new local controllers as outlined in section 8 of this report.

3. Resolves to make amendments to Appendix 5: Key Appointments of the operative Hawke’s Bay CDEM Group Plan as outlined in section 8 of this report.

Kerr/Wilson

CARRIED

Group Emergency Operations Centres Review

Mr Macdonald introduced his paper to inform and seek the endorsement of the CEG’s decision to change the structure and functions of the emergency coordination centres (Group Emergency Coordination Centre and Local Emergency Operation Centres) in the Group.

CEG requested a review in August 2014 of existing CDEM EOCs and ECC be undertaken. The purpose of the review was to identify a control and coordination structure appropriate for the Hawke’s Bay CDEM Group to successfully lead and coordinate the response to an emergency event or disaster.

A project team was established. The project team met in 2014 and completed a series of interviews with all councils and where appropriate partner agencies in January 2015.

Mr Macdonald gave a PowerPoint presentation on the team’s findings.

The project team was tasked with the detailed development of regional EOC with local control points and implementation plan including roles and responsibility, timeframes, numbers of controllers.

CDE4/15

Resolutions:

That :

1. The Committee agrees that the decisions to be made are not significant under the criteria contained in Administration Authority’s adopted policy on significance and that the Committee can exercise its discretion under Sections 79(1)(a) and 82(3) of the Local Government Act 2002 and make decisions on this issue without conferring directly with the community and persons likely to be affected by or to have an interest in the decision due to the nature and significance of the issue to be considered and decided.

2. The Committee endorses the CEG’s decision of a centralised regional ECC with local EOCs with reduced functions as the response command and control model for the Hawke’s Bay CDEM Group.

Wilson/Kerr

CARRIED

Group Exercise November 2015

Mr Macdonald introduced his paper on the Group Exercise. The purpose of this report was to gain the endorsement of the Committee on the decision of the CEG to conduct a Tier 3 exercise for the Hawke’s Bay CDEM Group in November 2015.

An earthquake was confirmed as the greatest hazard risk in HB and was determined that be the scenario at the next Group Tier 3 exercise. The title of the exercise is Te Matua-a-Maui, the scenario sets the scene of a major earthquake occurring late the in afternoon of Tuesday 10 November. The “operational” component of exercise Te Matua-a-Maui will be delivered on two consecutive days 11and 12 November and followed by a Recovery workshop on 25 November 2015.

The conceptual design for the exercise is to allow staff to practice their roles and responsibilities in a learning rather than testing environment. This is seen as important considering the lack of exercising at the Group and local level over the last 6 years.

Staff will be required to attend training courses. There is a “Foundation” training course, a half day Integrated Training Framework “Foundation Course” and incorporates and exceeds the CIMS level 2 qualification learning outcomes. This is based on the new CIMs model.

Two day Integrated Training Framework “Intermediate Course”, this course incorporates and exceeds CIMS level 4 qualification learning outcomes. An Advanced Coordination Centre Function Session. All will be provided locally or regionally. EMO staff will need to coordinate and deliver this training.

The build-up training and running of the exercise will require the commitment of up to 4.5 days depending upon the role and level of experience of the staff member involved.

CDE5/15

Resolutions:

That :

1. Agrees that the decisions to be made are not significant under the criteria contained in Administration Authority’s adopted policy on significance and that Committee can exercise its discretion under Sections 79(1)(a) and 82(3) of the Local Government Act 2002 and make decisions on this issue without conferring directly with the community and persons likely to be affected by or to have an interest in the decision due to the nature and significance of the issue to be considered and decided.

2. That the Committee endorses the decisions of the CEG with regards to the planning and conduct of Exercise Te Matua-a-Maui.

3. That the Committee acknowledges the need for all councils to commit to Exercise Te Matua-a-Maui.

Butler/Kerr

CARRIED

Group Work Plan

Mr Macdonald introduced his paper on the group work plan to seek the endorsement of the key priorities of the Group work plan approved by the CEG in February 2015.

The Group Work Programme is being developed following the completion of the Group Plan and was requested as a result of the CEG workshop in November 2014. Once commenced, discussions with various partner agencies and two EMO one day workshops were completed. A draft work programme based on this work was produced and an initial review indicates that this programme is feasible. CEG discussed this and decisions were made on the programme priorities.

Mr Macdonald gave a PowerPoint presentation on Priority Activities Overview. This outlined the following priorities decided by CEG; Contingency Planning, Standing Operating Procedures, Implementation of ECC/ECO Review, Exercises and Training and Community Response Plans. When the priorities have been confirmed, further detail will be needed to provide for detailed project plans likely through a focused workshop with emergency management staff experienced or skilled in the relevant areas.

The Committee noted 2015 is a busy year with the Monitoring and Evaluation process in May/June and the Te Matua-a-Maui exercise scheduled for November.

In response to a question on communities equipped to do the job, Mr Macdonald advised for example Rural Fire will do some civil defence training but are part of the community response plan.

CDE6/15

Resolutions:

That :

2. The Committee endorses the Group work programme priorities as outlined in this report.

Dalton/Little

CARRIED

10.

Group Structure and Resourcing Review

Mr Macdonald introduced his paper on group structure and resourcing review. The purpose of the report was to advise the Committee of recent changes to the staffing structure of the Hawke’s Bay CDEM Group approved by the CEG and the Committee to endorse the changes.

The decisions made by the CEG in February 2015 fall into two areas being the structure of all the emergency management staff across the TLAs and the Group Office, and the capability and resourcing of the Group Office.

A review was commissioned in late 2014 to identify gaps in capability and resourcing, and recommend a structure which considers the needs of Hawke’s Bay. Interviews with EMOs, CEG and Joint Committee members took place. Two workshops were held with CEG who decided to hold over a decision on the review until a Group work plan had been developed. This has been developed to a point where the key workstreams and resources needed to complete them have been identified and could inform the discussion on the structure.

The option CEG adopted in February was maintaining existing employment arrangements (most TLA employing their own EMO) but putting in place arrangements where the reporting lines of local EMOs is clearly to the Group Manager Hawke’s Bay CDEM. The CEG decision also included that in the 2016/17 financial year all EM staff should be employed by the one organization.

Other issues like funding will need to be addressed. There are additional positions to be filled, Emergency Management Coordinator – Community Resilience, Additional Readiness Resource and Emergency Management Administration Officer positions.

CDE7/15

Resolutions:

That :

2. That the Committee endorses the decision of CEG with regards to changing the structure of the CDEM staff and resourcing of the Group Office.

Wilson/Dalton

CARRIED

11.

Proposed Councillor Roles and Responsibilities Workshop

Mr Macdonald introduced his paper on proposed Councillor roles and responsibilities workshop. The purpose of the report was for the Committee to discuss the matters to be covered in a combined council workshop on civil defence emergency management.

At the last Committee meeting it was requested that a combined Hawke’s Bay Councillor workshop be run focusing on matters such as roles and responsibilities during a CDEM emergency. The workshop will be held on 11 May 2015 at the Hastings District Council in the Council Chambers.

The Committee discussed the proposed topics for the workshop. It was noted the Committee thought the workshop was a good way of meeting and interacting with other Councillors. Key learnings from Cyclone Pam were also discussed.

CDE8/15

Resolution:

1. That the Committee receives the report of the Group Manager Hawke’s Bay CDEM.

Wilson/Little

CARRIED

12.

General Business

Monitoring and Evaluation – Andrew Hickey

Mr Hickey gave a PowerPoint presentation on Monitoring and Evaluation.

Mr Hickey noted to the Committee, no members were involved in the last review. The Monitoring and Evaluation process is an honest assessment from the CDEM Group members about your thoughts of your CDEM Group. This is a requirement of the CDEM Act and a way to monitor progress on the National CDEM Strategy.

There are two Capability Assessments, the first one all CDEM Groups were assessed 2009-2012. The assessment was in August 2010 and the overall score was 51.3. The second assessment started in April 2014 and is due to be completed before August 2015. The assessment is scheduled for May 2015 and the ‘target’ score is 64.

Each Council, 5 x local authority, plus 1 x Group Office (with Emergency Services), are to undertake filling in the Capability Assessment Tool (CAT) in May. MCDEM are not involved in the CAT process. Interviews are scheduled to take place 15 – 19 June 2015 with all CDEM Group members, including the relevant subject matter experts. Most interviews are undertaken individually with MCDEM M&E team. Workshop (interview) with Emergency Services, InterComm, Welfare, Lifelines and Hazards with MCDEM M&E team.

MCDEM moderates CAT score based on interview feedback, reviews any plans and documents.

Closure:

There being no further business the Chairman acknowledged Wairoa District Council for rescheduling a Council meeting to attend today and declared the meeting closed at 1.34pm on Tuesday, 24 March 2015.

Signed as a true and correct record.

DATE: ................................................ CHAIRMAN: ...............................................