150 Somers Road

East Longmeadow, MA 01028-2929

To The Members of the Board of Selectmen and the Community;

During the past calendar year the Committee has once again, continued to move ahead and is on track with its required duties.

For the fourth year the Committee, the Fire Department, and the Massachusetts Office of Emergency Management (MEMA) have received updated Tier II – Hazardous Materials reports in electronic format. This information has been placed in service, for use by the Committee, the local Office of Emergency Management, and the Fire Department through paper files and on computer for quick retrieval during an emergency.

Last year, the Committee reported that a "new" Hazardous Materials Evacuation Plan (HMEP) had been completed. This plan has remained unchanged in anticipation of the new eCEMP Program. The eCEMP Program is scheduled to be up and running during January 2007. Once this new document is released, the Committee will be working with the East Longmeadow Emergency Management Agency to ensure the documents contents are current.

The Committee continues to hold its Provisional Certification status. During the past year we received a second stipend of $500 for maintaining the Provisional Certification status. During 2007 the committee will be looking into what needs to be accomplished in order to go to the next step – Full Certification.

During the year, meetings have been conducted quarterly. All meeting notices are published in the Reminder and posted at the Town Hall by the Town Clerk. Notices and postings are made per the "Open Meeting Law." The public is always welcome to attend.

During 2006 the committee spearheaded NIMS Training (National Incident Management System) for all town employees, the EDS Program (Emergency Dispensing System) and regionalizing the LEPC with the towns of Hampden, Longmeadow, and Wilbraham.

Regionalization would help the other communities met the mandate of each community having an LEPC and combine resources within the four communities.

In 2005 the Committee became the primary receiving agency for any future programs involving/requiring emergency planning.

We also worked with the Planning Board on definitions for the Town By-laws. The definitions addressed two subjects – "Highly Hazardous Chemical" and "Process." They were presented at the Special Town Meeting in October and adopted by the Town.

The definitions as adopted were taken from 29CFR under SARA (the Superfund Amendment Re-Authorization Act), the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), and OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Agency).

No exercises were conducted during 2006 to test the current plan.

For 2007 plans are being made to look at and address multiple subjects. The first will be a joint mitigation exercise, conducted by this committee and the East Longmeadow Emergency Management Agency.

The next exercise is tentatively scheduled to be conducted in late winter and will revisit an exercise that was conducted in 2001. The 2001 exercise looked at what it would take to re-establish Town Government should a disaster severely damage the Town Hall. We will be looking at what steps have been taken to date to protect the documents & records of the Town and what still needs to be addressed.

As noted in our 2004 report this Committee receives no funding from the Town. Grants are currently the only funding source for this Committee. While grants are an excellent source for funding they may not be available in the future. At some point the Town may need to provide funding for this committee.

I wish to thank the members of this committee, all Town Departments & Boards, the

local businesses, and all of the State Agencies that the committee works with for their cooperation

Respectfully Submitted,

Brian A Falk, Chairman

Local Emergency Planning Committee –

Brian A. Falk, Chairman

Frank Morrisino, Jr., Emergency Management Director & Vice Chairman

Brenda Brouillette, American Red Cross

Dr. Michael Lemanski, Health Representative

John M. Claffey, Board of Health Representative

James Driscoll, Selectmen's Representative

Raymond Kallaugher, Citizen Representative

Dr. Edward Costa, School Department & Buses

Richard Clark, Council on Aging Representative

Dave Gromaski, DPW/Transportation Representative

Robert Gregory, AMR/Emergency Medical Service Representative

John Haraty, Environmental Representative

Stephen Rybacki, Fire Department Liaison

Tom McGowan, Regional Hazmat Team Representative

Mike Maheux, Industry Representative

Chris Buendo, Media Representative

David Mellis, Police Chief

Walter Niznik, Police Department Liaison

Mary Lou Donahue, School Nursing Supervisor

Bruce Augusti, State Emergency Management Representative