Minutes of HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee

Minutes of a meeting of the HB Civil Defence Emergency Management
Group Joint Committee

Date: Monday 24 March 2025

Time: 1.30pm

Venue:

Council Chamber

Hawke's Bay Regional Council

159 Dalton Street

NAPIER

Present: H Ormsby, Chair

Mayor A Walker, Deputy Chair

Cr T Kerr – HDC alternate

Mayor C Little – WDC

Mayor K Wise – NCC

Advisory members B Barber – Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Inc

in attendance J Hamilton – Specialist Advisor

L Symes – Tātau Tātau o te Wairoa

In Attendance: S Briggs – HB CDEM Group Manager /Controller

N Peet – HBRC Chief Executive

D Tate – CHBDC Chief Executive

N Bickle – HDC Chief Executive

L Miller – NCC Chief Executive

I Wilson – National Emergency Management Agency

M Boggs – Director of HB CDEM Transformation

M McGrath – HBRC Legal Advisor

A Sandilands – HBRC Chief Legal Advisor

R Hollyman – HBRC Governance Advisor

P Martin – Acting Team Leader Governance

J Price – National Emergency Management Agency

A Fromont – National Emergency Management Agency

L Prattley – National Emergency Management Agency

1. Welcome/Karakia /Apologies

The Chair welcomed everyone and Bayden Barber opened the meeting with a karakia. Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst was unable to attend so HDC alternate Councillor Tania Kerr attended the meeting.

2. Conflict of interest declarations

There were no conflicts of interest declared.

3. Confirmation of Minutes of the HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee held on 27 January 2025

CDE6/25

Resolution

Minutes of the HB Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee held on Monday, 27 January 2025, a copy having been circulated prior to the meeting, were taken as read and confirmed as a true and correct record.

Walker/Wise

CARRIED

National Space Weather Response Plan

The Chair introduced Shane Briggs who spoke to the item and introduced Louisa Prattley and Ashleigh Fromont from NEMA (both online). A NEMA presentation (attached) highlighted:

· Space weather can be identified as very powerful bursts of energy from the sun which can interfere with critical infrastructure on a global scale; such as electricity grids, satellite, comms and more. Because of this, we cannot rely on assistance from other countries as they would be equally affected by the event.

· At a community level the impacts are likely to affect transport systems however traditional radio services may not be affected.

· These events are becoming more frequent.

· Typically there would be 12 hours’ notice of a space weather event and actions we can take within that first 12 hours. Actions are still to be fully developed, particularly at a regional level.

· There is also a current National Space Weather Response Plan and a typical Civil Defence household disaster preparation plan would be sufficient to cope with a solar event.

CDE16/25

Resolution

That the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee receives and notes the National Space Weather Response Plan presentation.

Walker/Kerr

CARRIED

National Emergency Management Agency update

Shane Briggs introduced John Price, Director of NEMA, who delivered a presentation that highlighted:

· NEMA has created an Emergency Management Significant Improvement Programme (EMSIP) that consolidates 15 identified actions into 5 focus areas.

· Alongside EMSIP, the updated Emergency Management Bill is intended to strengthen communities and Iwi Māori, provide clear responsibilities, and set higher standards for delivering emergency management.

· EMSIP phase 2 covers: 1 Whole of society approach, 2 support and enable local government, 3 build capability and capacity, 4 enable the system and 5 focus on delivery.

· Delivery cost forecasts have been increased to $30mil.

· Whole of society approach incorporates Iwi Māori and other communities such as churches, pacifica, schools.

· Local, regional, and national response plans must be updated to be fit for purpose.

· Developing a good common operating picture (COP) with good retrievable data, tools, analytics, early warning systems, mobile alerting systems, notification systems etc is essential.

· Intend to uplift the regional support systems and teams with training and exercises.

Discussions covered:

· Vulnerable communities need to be represented, training and uplift, group control should be alongside CEs as opposed to assuming the extra roles. May or may not decide this. Public Submissions needed for feedback on this process – via normal submission process.

· Māori need to be hard-wired into the emergency management systems, including in legislation, at governance and operational levels.

· Each Region should have the flexibility to make some decisions as opposed to being directed by central government – it’s important that the correct people are at the table to make the right decisions.

CDE17/25

Resolution

That the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee receives and notes the National Emergency Management Agency update and presentation.

Walker/Kerr

CARRIED

Transformation Strategy implementation update

Matt Boggs introduced the item, which was taken as read, and highlighted:

· Transformation moves to a decentralised model with both group and local support as of 1 July 2025, so decisions to align funding need to be made through all of the councils’ 2025-26 Annual Plan processes.

· From 1 July to December 2025 there will be tests and adjustment periods, followed by, from about January 2026 operating under a service level agreement that we will live with until 2027.

· Drafted and sought legal opinion on Māori representation including in legislation. Will write recommendations and provide a framework in the plan for leads at local level.

Leon Symes left the meeting at 2.34pm

· Training and exercising is making real strides and dates for council exercises will come shortly.

· Recruitment remains challenging.

· The community wants to see progress so need to keep the pressure on to hit deadlines, with 1 July for the community to see something tangible.

· Each council will need to make decisions on monitoring/ warning system details as part of asset review processes. A critical focus is making the monitoring systems more resilient.

· We need to highlight personal decision-making however work continues on local and regional trigger levels for evacuating, e.g. when the rain is starting/ before is starts, Wairoa has a set of swings in a playground, when that floods, think about evacuating.

· The plan establishes a new baseline this year and there are more hard decisions to come, for the 2027-37 long term plans.

· Nic Peet confirmed that the ‘Group Office’ will be moving because it’s intended that HDC will take the current facility over for using as its EOC.

CDE18/25

Resolution

That the HB CDEM Group Joint Committee receives and notes the Transformation Strategy implementation update staff report.

Kerr/Walker

CARRIED

HB CDEM Group update

Shane Briggs introduced the item, highlighting:

· We have trained 177 people in four weeks, which is making a real difference to the level of capacity.

· Working on trigger levels, and how these will be set.

· There has been an overspend on external expenditure relating to training.

· It’s been suggested that elected members, (including community boards) complete emergency management training, potentially at the beginning of the new triennium.

· An updated work programme will be prepared for the 28 April 2025 CEG meeting.

CDE19/25

Resolution

That the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee receives and notes the HB CDEM Group update.

Wise/Little

CARRIED

HB CDEM Group Controller appointments update

Shane Briggs introduced the item, highlighting:

· Four expressions of interest for Group Controller were received and the team is in communication with three of those. Some challenges with those who submitted EOIs include conflicts of interest, not living in the region and leaving the region.

· The next Controller Training course is in August with a prerequisite to complete seven weeks of pre-course work prior to the course date. Three spaces are reserved to ensure spaces are available for new appointees.

CDE20/25

Resolution

That the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee receives and notes the HB CDEM Group Controller appointments update.

Little/Kerr

CARRIED

Cyclone Gabrielle Coroner’s Inquest legal representation

Resolution

That the Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Joint Committee excludes the public from this section of the meeting, being Agenda Item 8 Cyclone Gabrielle Coroner’s Inquest legal representation with the general subject of the item to be considered while the public is excluded. The reasons for passing the resolution and the specific grounds under Section 48 (1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution are:

CDE21/25

General subject of the item to be considered	Grounds under section 48(1) for the passing of the resolution	Reason for passing this resolution
Cyclone Gabrielle Coroner’s Inquest legal representation	s7(2)(g) Excluding the public is necessary to prevent disclosure of information that is legally privileged.	The matters being discussed will include legally privileged material.