MINUTES
General Membership Meeting
January 17, 2002 3:00 p.m.
St. Louis County Emergency Operations Center

Attendees:

The regular General Membership Meeting of the MidAmerica Contingency Planning Forum was held on Thursday, January 17, 2002, at the St. Louis County Emergency Operations Center, beginning at 3:00 p.m.

President Angie Swartz welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions around the floor were made by all present. On behalf of the MCPF, she thanked Bill Roach and the County EOC for hosting the meeting. Angie proceeded to welcome everyone to a new year of topics for the MCPF Program. The new Board was introduced, and she stated they have been diligently working on a program that speaks to our needs for knowledge related to terrorism. She encouraged the membership to seek out any member of the Board and talk about what they and their organizations are doing and are in need of related to "The Many Faces of Terrorism".

The annual membership drive mailing is scheduled for distribution by the end of January.

Angie proceeded to review upcoming activities in the business continuity world. These included:
· Emergency Response to Domestic Biological Incidents - January 19-20
· Enterprise Crisis Management Seminar - January 24
· DRJ Spring Conference - March 10-13
· CPM 2002 - April 15-17
· SEMA MEPA Conference - April 1-3
· DRI Course for certification - Angie is gathering names for participants to potentially scheduling a class

There was no new business presented. President Swartz then moved to the featured presentation - Public/Private Partnership for Emergency Exercises. Our featured speaker was Dennis Davenport, Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Police and Emergency Planning Officer of the Clayton Police Department.

· Handouts were presented to the group. Hardcopies of the presentation material are available by contacting Secretary Bathon and she will put a copy in the mail.

· The presentation consisted of
ü Review of the preparatory steps for conducting a joint exercise.
ü It's important to work together, both corporations and authorities.
ü Identify the initial steps that need to be done before the authorities arrive.
ü Once the authorities arrive, control of the situation is handed over to them.
ü Ensure all associates can be accounted for.
ü Create realistic scenarios to exercise.
ü Document desired objectives for the exercise.
ü Types of exercises are: Orientation
Drill
Tabletop
Functional
Full Scale
ü Credentialing needs to be done. Identify authorities in the areas where offices are physically located. Provide a list of critical associates with their special responsibilities for support during emergency situations to local authorities.
ü Plans can be various lengths and serve as a framework. Most steps may not apply during a live event.
ü Plans must be exercised and revised accordingly.
ü In most cases, fire department representatives are the key group and control the situations.

A discussion regarding a credentialing project for St. Louis City followed completion of the featured presentation. Numerous questions were raised and discussed.

The next General Meeting will be held on Thursday, February 21, 2002, beginning at 3:00 p.m. The topic will be Status of Missouri's Homeland Security Efforts. Mr. Tim Daniel, Special Advisor for Homeland Security for the State of Missouri, will be the featured speaker.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:20 p.m.

Recorded by: Anna M. Bathon, CBCP
MCPF Secretary
Office: 314.466.3509
Fax: 314.466.3939
Email: anna.bathon@bankofamerica.com

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