• Welcome and introductions.
o Those in attendance (in order of sign in): Robert Altieri (Smyrna Police CAPS), Tom Hickey (Emergency Transportation Volunteers), Tom Halladay (Emergency Transportation Volunteers), Bill Whealtey (CPAW/VIPS), Sonia Trudeau (NCC Police), Bobbie Merrill (First state ACP), Elizabeth Lee Roberts (CPAW), Nicole Desmarais (Public Health/DMRC), Jerry Picard (American Red Cross), S/Lt. Hudson (NCC Police), Marissa Favata-Gallen (Emergency Services Corps), Brian Bannon (NCC OEM).
• Review and approval of March 2010 meeting minutes – approved as presented
http://ncccitizencorps.blogspot.com/2010/03/march-citizen-corps-council-meeting.html
• NCC Citizen Corps update
o Disaster Assessment update – This partnership with the Red Cross provides capability in Citizen Corps and Red Cross volunteers in times of disaster. As with all New Castle County Citizen Corps partnerships and programs, the Council served as a referral to the existing Red Cross program which will continue to run under the guidance of the Red Cross. We conducted a tabletop exercise with Disaster Assessment volunteers and provided them with a t-shirt as a token of our appreciation.
o Grant update – FY 2007 grant has been closed and reimbursement paperwork has been forwarded to DEMA.
• FY 2008 Grant funds will likely be depleted before the end of the grant period. VIPS, CPAW, and Communications Corps all have budget requests in that need to be processed.
o NCC CERT update – CERT backpacks and materials are being purchased from the FY 2008 grant money to support upcoming classes. A CERT class was held in Claymont that trained 29 new CERT members. Thanks to the Claymont Fire Company for the use of their training room. The next CERT class will likely be in September.
• Citizen Corps program guide discussion – final guide review. Typographical errors, graphics issues, and verbiage were reviewed and suggestions made on the paper copy. After all comments are received it will go to each organization for a final review and printing. The program guide will be published on paper and on a web page. NCC OEM is exploring ways to develop a Google ad words account to drive hits to a county site as a portal to OEM and citizen Corps Partners’ preparedness information
• Open group discussion
o CPAW – Bill Whealtey provided an overview of CPAW – Crime Prevention Area Watch. For info log on to
http://cpawde.org/ Bill Whealtey advises that he is organizing a CERT Team in the Brookside area. This group will be built using the same structure and volunteers CPAW.
“Betty “ Roberts discussed how CPAW and the County Police cleaned up Iron Hill Park
o VIPS – The County Police are looking to add 3 more VIPS members to provide administrative support, investigative support, and citizen outreach and education. For more info contact NCC Police Community Services 302-395-8050 or
http://www.nccde.org/police The police run numerous programs to support the Community such as Senior Roll Call, Heroin Alert program, Project Life Saver, and the Hispanic Liaison Officer Program.
S/Lt Hudson provided an overview of Project Life Saver and asked for assistance in promoting this valuable program– see attached for more information or go to
http://www.projectlifesaver.org/ Ofc Trudeau discussed a safety Day event at Hampton Walk on August 7th from 12- 3pm for more info contact 395-8057
o Smyrna Police – Robert Altieri advises that the Citizen Auxiliary Program (CAP) in Smyrna supports the police department in a variety of ways: training, parades, crossing guard duty, maintaining a business contact list, logistical support for DUI checkpoints, and other support.
o Emergency Services Corps (ESC) – Marissa Favata included an overview of the Emergency Services Corps and provided statistics and an overview about the members’ activities. ESC is an AmeriCorps program administered by the YMCA of Delaware whose mission is to recruit and retain volunteer firefighters in New Castle County. More info is available at http://beafirefighter.org
o Emergency Transportation Volunteers – Tom Hickey introduced his new Deputy Director Tom Halladay and discussed the continuing efforts to coordinate transportation volunteers with Emergency Operations center (EOC) activities including sending an EOC representative during the next emergency. The lack of liability insurance for ETV members and the lack of funding continue to be challenges for this group.
o Delaware Medical Reserve Corps (DMRC) – Nicole Desmarais discussed the DMRC and the possibility of aligning future activities among Citizen Corps groups with DMRC systems and programs. The Department of Public Health hosts the ESARVIPS program (https://servde.org/ ) to register, notify, and track volunteers. Efforts to utilize this system more widely continue.
o Red Cross – Jerry Picard provided and overview of the Red Cross of the Delmarva Peninsula. 97% of Red Cross responders are volunteers. The Red Cross provides support in medical/mental health area, sheltering, damage assessment, support to those affected by fires, and services to the armed forces. The Citizen Corps partnership serves as a conduit to existing Red Cross programs and services and volunteers need to comply with all the existing prerequisites, etc. to be eligible to volunteer.
o NCC OEM - Brian Bannon announced a volunteer opportunity to act as a victim for an exercise at the NCC Airport on July 10, 2010. See
http://ncccitizencorps.blogspot.com/2010/06/volunteers-needed-exercise-saturday-10.html for details
• Set action items and agenda for next meeting – next meeting set for September 24, 2010 at 10:00 am at the Paul J. Sweeney Public Safety Building. The Program Guide’s effectiveness will be reviewed at this meeting to assess the next step in promoting preparedness and Citizen Corps partners.
• Adjourn
