Medina County EMA to switch public alerts to Regroup, schedules training and LEPC exercise

Medina County Emergency Management Agency Director Ben Nau told the commissioners June 16 the county will transition its mass-notification system from WENS to a new platform called Regroup.

Nau said residents currently registered in the old system will be asked to create new Regroup accounts because the new platform will operate on an address-based alerting model; "Information will be disseminated to the public within approximately one month," he said. He also asked the board to approve continued adoption of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which the board did by roll-call vote.

Nau outlined training opportunities: a NIMS overview for executives and senior officials scheduled for Aug. 20 aimed at elected officials and department heads, and a public-information-officer series Sept. 21–23 covering basics of public information during emergencies. He also announced a Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) full-scale exercise simulating a rail-car incident scheduled Sept. 19 in Medina City, and said the county has revised hazmat cost-recovery processes in coordination with the prosecutor's office. Year-to-date EMA has responded to 42 incidents, with recent quarters showing an unusually high number of hazmat calls.

Nau reported FEMA has issued the notice of award for the next grant year though funds have not yet been received, and that the Emergency Management Performance Grant has been drawn down by half for the current year.

The agency's planned change in alerting platform and the training calendar are immediate next steps for county emergency preparedness.