Agenda of HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group

Meeting of the HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group

Joint Committee

Date: Monday 23 March 2020

Time: 1.30pm

Venue:

Council Chamber

Hawke's Bay Regional Council

159 Dalton Street

NAPIER

Agenda

Item Subject Page

1. Welcome/Notices/Apologies

2. Conflict of Interest Declarations

3. Confirmation of Minutes of the HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee meeting held on 11 November 2019

4. Action Items from Previous HB CDEM Group Joint Committee Meetings 3

5. Call for Minor Items Not on the Agenda 7

Decision Items

6. Confirmation of Joint Committee Terms of reference 9

7. Hawke's Bay Disaster Relief Trust Deed 19

Information or Performance Monitoring

8. Group Manager's Update 35

9. Discussion of Minor Items not on the Agenda 49

Please note: A briefing on current events will be provided to Members Only following meeting close.

HB CDEM Group Joint Committee

Monday 23 March 2020

Subject: Confirmation of Joint Committee Terms of reference

Reason for Report

1. This item provides the amended Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Joint Committee for adoption.

Officers’ Recommendation

2. Staff recommend that the committee adopts the Joint Committee terms of reference as proposed (attached).

Background/Discussion

3. The previous ToR was most recently approved by the Joint Committee in December 2016.

4. At its first meeting of this Triennium, in November 2019, the Committee reviewed the proposed ToR and requested some changes to it, which are included in the attached document. In particular, paragraph 19.2 has been added to reinforce the funding arrangements for the Group, the role of this committee and the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.

Options Assessment

5. The only options open to the committee is to adopt the terms of reference or not. The Committee may make changes if it wishes.

Financial and Resource Implications

6. There are no financial or resource implications associated with the adoption of the Committee’s ToR.

Decision Making Process

7. Council and its committees are required to make every decision in accordance with the requirements of the Local Government Act 2002 (the Act). Staff have assessed the requirements in relation to this item and have concluded:

7.1. The decision does not significantly alter the service provision or affect a strategic asset.

7.2. The use of the special consultative procedure is not prescribed by legislation.

7.3. The decision is not significant under the criteria contained in Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s adopted Significance and Engagement Policy.

Recommendations

The Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee:

1. Agrees that the decisions to be made are not significant under the criteria contained in the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s adopted Significance and Engagement Policy, and that the Committee can exercise its discretion and make decisions on this issue without conferring directly with the community or persons likely to have an interest in the decision.

2. Adopts the proposed Terms of References as attached.

Authored & Approved by:

Ian Macdonald

Group Manager/Controller

Attachment/s

⇩1

CDEMG Joint Committee ToR for 23 March 2020 adoption

HB CDEM Group Joint Committee

Monday 23 March 2020

Subject: Hawke's Bay Disaster Relief Trust Deed

Reason for Report

1. This item seeks the final approval of the Joint Committee for the proposed Hawke's Bay Disaster Relief Trust Deed.

Background

2. The Deed was signed off at the last meeting of the 2016-19 triennium. This was after the five councils had completed consultation as part of their long term plan processes and passed resolutions approving the formation of the trust.

3. Unfortunately, the final legal review discovered there had been changes to trust and charities legislation since the deed had been originally drafted. This required some changes to the document to ensure it complies with the legislation.

4. The changes have not substantially changed the intent or the governance arrangements of the trust and hence the original resolutions of the councils. The attached document tracks the significant changes made. Lauren Hibberd from Sainsbury Logan & Williams will be available at the meeting to answer any questions.

5. The original trust deed did not form part of the consultation undertaken by the councils.

Officers’ Recommendation

6. Given the Committee has already agreed to the Trust Deed previously, the only recommendation made is that the deed be approved for registration and an application be made to the Charities Commission for the Trust to be considered a charitable trust.

Options Assessment

7. The only other option to the Committee is to reject the trust deed in its entirety.

8. Given the intent of the Trust, the consultation already undertaken, and the work completed this is not recommended.

Strategic Fit

9. The establishment of the Trust is a specific objective in the Group Plan.

Financial and Resource Implications

10. There are no significant financial or resource issues as a result of the decisions recommended in this item. The Trust operating costs will be minor, especially if it is exempted under the Council Controlled Organisations provisions of the Local Government Act 2002. All associated costs will be covered within existing Group budgets.

Decision Making Process

11. The Committee is required to make every decision in accordance with the requirements of the Local Government Act 2002 (the Act). Staff have assessed the requirements in relation to this item and have concluded:

11.1. The decision does not significantly alter the service provision or affect a strategic asset.

11.2. The use of the special consultative procedure is not prescribed by legislation. The Committee should note that individual councils have already consulted on the trust and this is largely an implementation decision.

11.3. The decision does not fall within the definition of the Administrating Authority’s policy on significance.

11.4. There are no persons directly affected by the decisions recommended.

11.5. The decision is not inconsistent with an existing policy or plan.

11.6. Given the nature and significance of the issue to be considered and decided, and also the persons likely to be affected by, or have an interest in the decisions made, the Committee can exercise its discretion and make a decision without consulting directly with the community or others having an interest in the decision.

Recommendations

The Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee:

1. Agrees that the decisions to be made are not significant under the criteria contained in the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s adopted Significance and Engagement Policy, and that the Joint Committee can exercise its discretion and make decisions on this issue without conferring directly with the community or persons likely to have an interest in the decision.

2. Adopts the proposed Trust Deed for the Hawke’s Bay Disaster Relief Trust as attached.

Authored & Approved by:

Ian Macdonald

Group Manager/Controller

Attachment/s

⇩1

Hawke's Bay Disaster Relief Trust Deed

HB CDEM Group Joint Committee

Monday 23 March 2020

Subject: Group Manager's Update

Reason for Report

1. The purpose of this report is to inform and update the Joint Committee on matters not specifically addressed in other items on this agenda and to give the Committee an opportunity to ask questions and give feedback if desired.

Background

2. The matters covered in this report include:

2.1. COVID-19 response

2.2. Drought response

2.3. Tangoio and Central Hawke's Bay fires response

2.4. Central Hawke's Bay District Council water main outage response

2.5. Work programme update

2.6. Financials update.

Discussion

COVID-19 response

3. The Group response to the COVID-19 pandemic commenced on 24 January 2020 when the first national situation report was received from the National Emergency Management Agency.

4. The lead agency for a pandemic response is the Ministry of Health and at a regional level the Hawke's Bay District Health Board (DHB). The DHB has a pandemic response plan and the Hawke's Bay CDEM Group role is to support this response particularly in the welfare area.

5. From a Hawke's Bay CDEM perspective, the biggest impacts of a sustained outbreak are:

5.1. Welfare needs from people who are in isolation

5.2. Impacts on the ability of councils and partner agencies to sustain their essential services.

6. A brief outline of the actions taken so far is as follows.

6.1. Distribution of regular situation reports to Group governance and management structure.

6.2. Input into national planning processes including the deployment of a staff member to the National Health Coordination Centre to support the welfare planning process.

6.3. Supporting DHB public communications.

6.4. Attending DHB incident management team meetings.

6.5. Activated the Group Emergency Coordination Centre to a Monitoring level of activation.

6.6. Developed combined Group Drought/COVIDS-19 initial action plan with a COVID-19 contingency plan.

6.7. Command and Control; Taskings Workshop with the DHB incident controller.

6.8. Commenced more detailed planning of welfare response to a local level.

6.9. Limited activation of the Group emergency coordination centre.

7. The DHB will give a presentation at the meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting there will be an opportunity to give the Committee an operational briefing and seek input.

Drought response

8. The welfare response to the COVID-19 and current drought are being managed concurrently. The lead agency for the drought impacting on the rural environment is the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI).

9. The Hawke's Bay Regional Council has convened a Drought Committee with local authority and rural sector members. On 10 March this committee requested the Minister of Agriculture declare a medium scale event for Hawke's Bay. On 12 March the Minister declared a large-scale event covering the whole North Island and the top of the South Island.

10. This has released funding to the Rural Support Trusts and allows for tax and income relief for impacted farmers.

11. At this stage the response to drought conditions is a community led response which the Group is supporting as required. This is primarily being driven through the rural advisory group (RAG) to which the Group office and MPI provide the secretariat and general support.

12. Central Hawke's Bay District Council has appointed a Drought Incident Controller and the Group office is assisting her as requested.

13. Unless conditions ease in the next few weeks, this event is likely to have long term impacts not only on farming, but the regional economy well into winter/spring later in the year. Combined with the economic impacts of COVID-19, the Group will need to consider commencing planning for the recovery. At this point it is probable too early to start this given the inherent uncertainties of both events. However, this may need to be considered in the next couple of months.

Tangoio and CHB fires response

14. In January and early February 2020 there were two fires that required the Group to support the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) response.

15. The Tangoio fire required the largest and most sustained support with the national incident management team using the Hasting coordination centre for a week to manage the response. Group office and Hasting District Council staff supported the response, particularly in the public information management area. The ability to use the Group Facebook page to quickly put information out and maintain ongoing advice to the public was particularly important.

16. Feedback from the FENZ national incident management team on the new Hastings coordination centre was very positive with the response manger stating the facility was one of the best he had worked in.

17. The fires in early February in the CHB area were also supported by Group office public information manager and the embedded CHBDC supporting Emergency Management Advisor.

CHBDC water main outage response

18. On 10 January a major outage on the pipe from the reservoir supplying Waipawa threatened to cut-off all water to the township within a few hours.

19. The Group office deployed three staff to the CHBDC emergency operations centre in Waipawa and they were also supported by a number of incident management team trained staff from HBRC. Primarily support was in the PIM and Planning functions with support also given to the CHBDC controller.

20. Luckily the outage was repaired temporality before water supplied ran out.

21. This event demonstrated how a council-led level one response could be activated and then supported by the wider Group through the coordination of the Group office. CHBDC controller was satisfied with the response.

Group Work Programme update

22. Attached is a summary of progress on the current Group work programme. Most projects are either on track or under review due to changes in the scope or other external factors.

23. The only project currently not on track is the Hikurangi Response Plan. The explanation in the attachment details the issues around this project.

24. Four projects have been identified as being at risk and comments explaining this are contained in the attachment.

25. Since this was updated the Group office has had to start focusing on the drought and COVIOD 19 response. This will impact the Group work programme into the future.

Financial update

26. The other attachment to this report, reports the Group office budgets for the first 6 months of the 2019-20 financial year.

27. Although individual projects show under and over expenditure at this stage, this is mostly a phasing issue across the year’s budget.

28. Project 711 (Risk Reduction) is currently underspent, however, there is some further expenditure on research in the second half of the year.

29. Project 712 (Readiness and Response) is currently overspent, however, much of the expenditure in this area has been frontloaded into the start of the financial year with the running of Exercise Ruaumoko and purchasing almost $40 000 worth of equipment and other fittings for the new GECC.

30. Another issue was the receipt of an invoice for the years rent for the GECC after the budgets for 2018-19 had closed. This has resulted in $30 000 being paid out of this year’s budget as well and rent for the first 6 months of this year.

31. Project 713 (Recovery, Governance and Coordination) is also overspent. Most of this over expenditure will be recovered through claims made on approved NEMA Resilience Fund projects.

32. Project 714 (Local Emergency Management) over expenditure is mostly a result of overlapping staff time where between new and outgoing staff. It is expected that this will balance out as the year progresses.

33. Overall the budgets are on track to balance at the end of the financial year in June.

Recommendation

That the Hawke’s Bay CDEM Group Joint Committee receives the “Group Manager’s Update” report.

Authored & Approved by:

Ian Macdonald

Group Manager/Controller

Attachment/s

⇩1	Project Progress report July -December 2019
⇩2	Group Work Programme

Topic	Raised by

Topic	Raised by