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Emergency management outlines CERT training, staging trailers and concerns about state radio funding
Summary
Dickinson County emergency management announced a CERT course in early November, plans to buy staging trailers with Homeland Security funds (now subject to a shorter spending window), and warned the state may begin charging subscriber fees for the 800 MHz radio system built with regional grant money.
Chancey Smith, Dickinson County Emergency Management, briefed the commission on community emergency training, equipment plans and concerns about the statewide 800 MHz radio system.
Smith said he will run a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) course in the courthouse basement from Nov. 3–7 (6–8 p.m. nightly) and intends to conduct a full-scale exercise at the sheriff's range afterward; he also noted some statements during the meeting referenced Nov. 3–8 and that schedule details will be finalized. The American Red Cross has offered to provide additional sheltering instruction after CERT is completed. Smith said his newly created Dickinson County Emergency Management Facebook page drew about 250 local followers within 24 hours.
Smith discussed Homeland Security grant funds that now must be spent within 12 months (reduced from a prior 24-month window) and said the county plans to use part of that funding to buy two trailers to serve as regional staging points stocked with cones and logistics gear for mutual-aid responders. "One of the problems we've come across in some of the disasters we go to when people come to help, they have nowhere to come to," Smith said, describing the trailers' intended use as staging points with check-in and assignment information.
Smith also updated commissioners on 800 MHz radio infrastructure: the North Tower is nearly complete but needs generator testing. He warned that the state (which controls the system) has deferred maintenance on the network and could require users to pay subscriber fees to support system upkeep. "...the state's gonna come back to all of the users and say you need to chip in your fair share and start charging subscriber rates to use their system," Smith said, adding the county and region invested grant funds to build the towers and that charging users later would be a significant change. Smith urged attention to the issue and said he and regional partners are discussing it with state contacts. No formal commission action was taken.
