Meeting Summary

Date
April 14, 2009, 2009

  Meeting Summary                                       Minutes (pdf format)

 Members Present:

Randey Bamford, Connie DeBlieck, Amy Collins, Manuela Quezada-Aragon, Katrina Doolittle, Lorin Gobble, Teresa Burgin, John Balog, Mike O’Larey, Nancy Baptiste,  Sidney Webb, Ronald Fisher

New Member:  

Pamela Schultz replaces Anne Hubbel as Faculty Senate representative.

Members Absent:

Angela Arvizo, Rene Yoder, Michael Abernethy, Albert Parra, Lori McKee, Ida Baca, Stephen Lopez, Ronald Fisher, Joe Plamer; Benjamin Diven; Darrell Smith; Jeff Witte; Hugo Vilchis; Carmen Gonzales; Tammy Anthony,  Julie Weber, Maureen Howard, Marry Simmons, Billy Dictson, Alfred Valdez

.The meeting began at 3:06 PM.

K. Doolittle asked attendees to introduce themselves and thanked everyone for attending.

There were no comments or corrections and the February 2009 meeting summary was unanimously accepted.

Old Business:

a)      R. Yoder reported that draft policies on telecommuting and state of emergency have been forwarded to D. Stuart.

b)      K. Doolittle polled the committee for interest in scheduling an emergency response training session by the Academy of Counter-Terrorist Education at Louisiana State University.  See item 3 of February 10 meeting summary for details.   There was interest in scheduling a session in mid February 2010.  It was suggested that hospitals and other local entities be invited, similar to the August tabletop exercise. Doolittle will follow up with schedulers and provide a brief overview to CDPC so that adequate registration of 20 persons can be committed for NMSU to host the training.

c)      K. Doolittle asked for CoOP plan updates.  L. Gobble said the Office of the Controller has sub-divided their plan and identified positions eligible for telecommuting.

d)      K. Doolittle said that the $10K equipment funding previously allocated for emergency software purchase reverted because no software for electronic CoOP tracking is available in that price range.  She submitted request for funding type to be changed to support  IT customization of freeware developed by UC Berkley for use by other universities.  T. Burgin and R. Bamford will work to bring this to the PMO committee to facilitate this capability quickly. 

e)      K. Doolittle reminded the committee to encourage personnel to register at My NMSU for Emergency Notification System alerts.  Users are able to select which alerts they wish to receive, i.e., main campus, community colleges or both.

 New Business

a)      K. Doolittle reported on Monday’s tabletop exercise of the Central Administration Response Team (CART).   There were three scenarios; a fire in the music building, a bomb threat during an event at Aggie Memorial Stadium, and a student fatality.  She distributed checklists for each type of scenario and templates for Emergency Action Plan and CoOP template for CART.  She distributed to CDPC the checklists and noted they are sensitive and not intended to be widely distributed but are not confidential. 

i Fire in a building: A fire that does not destroy the building would interrupt use of the facility until the cause was investigated and completion of cleanup and repairs.  

ii. Bomb threat:  K. Doolittle said that, if a threat is deemed credible, the precise location of the targeted area may not be identified or obvious and persons may be asked to look around their immediate surroundings and report suspicious objects.  During an event in the stadium, notification may be by loudspeaker or scoreboard text message.  M. O’Larey recalled that a thunderstorm and high-winds during a football game this season prompted an announcement advising fans in attendance to evacuate Aggie Memorial and seek shelter.

iii.      Active shooter: there is no strict guidance, but to evacuate the vicinity (if possible) and to follow directions of police officers on the scene.   

2. NMDOH press release on an outbreak of tularemia in Santa Fe county New Mexico.  K. Doolittle remarked that OF&S grounds personnel keep records on when and where they collect dead animal carcasses on campus.  R. Fisher said they bag the animals for disposal (animals are buried).  K. Doolittle remarked that tularemia is a bacterium that is pathogenic to humans.  J. Balog said that environmental exposures to tularemia may be via aerosol or skin contact.  He suggested that persons should self-monitor for symptoms; a rash for skin contact or respiratory difficulties.

 There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 3:50 PM

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