The Local Emergency Planning Committee of Starke County was scheduled to hold a meeting on Wednesday but there were not enough members present to have a quorum.
However, since no quorum was required to hold the first planning meeting for a tabletop exercise that will be held to test the County’s All-Hazards Plan, members went over some preliminary information about that.
A tabletop exercise is a meeting to discuss a simulated emergency situation where officials talk about their individual roles and responsibilities when it comes to responding to a situation.
Starke County EMA Director J. Nier mentioned that municipalities typically hold these exercises in the fall and said that the deadline to get it done is sometime in October. She asked the members if they had any suggestions and mentioned that she does have a template they could utilize.
Members recommended going with the template and working to customize it over the next few months so it will fit the needs of the County.
Additionally, members discussed ways to get better attendance at the meetings, since they’ve had issues with reaching a quorum the last few times. A few different possibilities were considered, but eventually, they landed on holding the meetings earlier in the day.
EMA Director Nier said she will send an email out to members to inform them that the make-up meeting for this month will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 20th.
She added that she will also include the template for the All-Hazards Plan Exercise in order to get some feedback about any potential changes. The second planning session for the exercise will be held immediately following the regular meeting next Wednesday.
