MINUTES OF A meeting of the HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group

Date:                          Monday 23 November 2020

Time:                          1.30pm

Venue:

Council Chamber Hawke's Bay Regional Council 159 Dalton Street NAPIER

Present:                     R Graham - Chairman

Mayor S Hazlehurst

Mayor C Little

Mayor A Walker

Mayor K Wise

In Attendance:          I Macdonald – Group Controller HB CDEM

J Palmer – HBRC Chief Executive

L Hooper – Team Leader Governance

E Lennan – Team Leader Emergency Management Operational Readiness

M Davidson – CHBDC Chief Executive

N Bickle – HDC Chief Executive

A Hickey – National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)

K Marshall – NCC Acting Chief Executive

1. Welcome/Apologies/Notices

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2. Conflict of Interest Declarations

There were no conflict of interest declarations.

3.      Confirmation of Minutes of the HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee meeting held on 31 August 2020

CDE7/20

Resolution Minutes of the HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee meeting held on Monday, 31 August 2020, a copy having been circulated prior to the meeting, were taken as read and confirmed as a true and correct record. Little/Walker CARRIED

4.	Action items from Previous HB CDEM Group Joint Committee Meetings
	The item was taken as read.
CDE14/20	Resolution That the HB CDEM Joint Committee receives the “Action Items from Previous CDEM Coordinating Executive Group Meetings” report. Hazlehurst/Walker CARRIED

5.	Call for Minor Items Not on the Agenda
	There were no minor items raised. Mayor Kirsten Wise briefly spoke about the response to the 9 November 2020 Napier Rainfall event, thanking NCC staff in particular and acknowledging she felt very well supported and thankful that everyone worked so well together to stand up the collective and collaborative welfare response.

6.	Hawke's Bay CDEM Group Annual Report 2019-20
	Ian Macdonald introduced the item and provided a brief overview of the events impacting on budgets over the year. Discussions and queries traversed: · Increasing number of significant events and how to build up disaster relief funds in preparation · Budgets are okay at present but getting tight, and looking to identify and fill gaps through the HBRC LTP process · Requesting budget forecasts come to this Group to ensure comfort that CDEM is adequately resourced.
CDE15/20	Resolutions That the Hawke's Bay CDEM Group Joint Committee: 1.      Receives and considers the “Hawke's Bay CDEM Group Annual Report 2019-20” staff report. 2.      Agrees that the decisions to be made are not significant under the criteria contained in Council’s adopted Significance and Engagement Policy, and that Council 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. 3.      Adopts the 2019-20 Hawke's Bay CDEM Group Annual Report as proposed. 4.    Requests that 2021-31 Long Term Plan Civil Defence budget forecasts are brought to the next Joint Committee meeting. Walker/Hazlehurst CARRIED

7.	Regional Drought Relief Fund
	James Palmer introduced the item, which was taken as read.
CDE16/20	Resolution That the HB CDEM Group Joint Committee receives the “Regional Drought Relief Fund” staff report and endorses the proposal to spend the residual funding on a Regional Drought Resilience Strategy dependent on agreement by all contributing parties. Walker/Hazlehurst CARRIED

8.	Covid-19 Resurgence Planning and Napier Flood Response And Recovery
	Ian Macdonald introduced the item, speaking to the Napier flood response first and providing the latest Napier City Council sit-rep and a run-down on the timelines of the event including when heavy rain warnings were issued, highlighting: · 9 November, 5.45pm FENS advised unable to meet current 111 demand and prioritising calls where threat to life was posed · 9 November, 6.15pm GECC activated, 7.30pm Emergency Services Coordination Committee recommended State of Emergency declaration, and 8.10pm Napier Mayor declared a local State of Emergency · 10 November – focus for day was situational awareness with Napier Hill priority, welfare system established, Napier fire station designated incident control point and coordination centre for USAR rapid damage assessments, Kennedy Park confirmed as evacuation centre and Minister arrived at 8pm · 11 November, deployed multi-disciplinary teams incl welfare, USAR and Building officers to Marewa, Maraenui, Pirimai and Onekawa and detailed slip assessments on Napier Hill · 13 November, multi-agency Civil Defence Centre in Marewa shops opened, State of Emergency lifted at 6pm · Most welfare referrals received on Wednesday 11 November – majority from Marewa (164) – shelter and food key requirements in week 1 · 50-50% insured and not insured is worrying because if you don’t have insurance you may not be eligible for some assistance from MBIE (e.g. temporary accommodation funding) · GECC Response Transition Report issued 20 November · Richard Munneke, Recovery Manager, noted that the people (staff) working on recovery are the same ones that dealt with the response and are tired; focus of recovery initially on welfare and building assessments with view to getting communities to move into recovery themselves · Issue causing the most grief currently is transition from emergency to temporary accommodation · GECC will continue to support recovery and start ‘debrief’ and post event hazard and action processes · 55 families at Kennedy Park & Angus Inn, and 115 uninhabitable homes currently · Concerns raised in relation to managing resources to get necessary post event reports and debriefs required while taking staff welfare into account · CEs have started conversations in relation to the processes to support recovery including staff resourcing · Advocate for ‘navigators’ who assist people to navigate insurance, health, accommodation and other assistance processes
CDE17/20	Resolution That the HB CDEM Group Joint Committee receives and notes the “COVID-19 Resurgence Planning and Napier Flood Response and Recovery” staff report and associated verbal update. Walker/Wise CARRIED

9.	Discussion of Minor Items Not on the Agenda
	There were no minor items raised.

Mayor Craig Little offered a karakia to close the meeting.

Closure:

There being no further business the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 2.35pm on Monday, 23 November 2020.

Signed as a true and correct record.

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