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Emergency Management & Homeland Security Advisory Board
Sharon A. Wehrly, Chairperson— Fred Jones, Vice Chairperson - Warren Pawlink, Secretary
Ronald Davian, Member — Martha Wehrly, Member

Emergency Management &
Homeland Security (EM&HS)
Advisory Board
May 22, 2008

L. Murray
Unincorporated Town of Pahrump
Town Board Chairperson

Dan Sprouse
Town Board Member
EM&HS Advisory Board Liaison

Dear Town Board Chairperson and EM&HS Advisory Board Liaison:

When I spoke with Dan Sprouse earlier this week, it became apparent that the current Town Board and the standing EM&HS Advisory Board have insurmountable philosophic differences in their interpretation of professional Emergency Management Program design, development, implementation, conduct, and in attaining and maintaining compliance with State, Federal and National Fire Protection Agency rules and regulations, including NFPA-1600 guidelines. The Unincorporated Town of Pahrump Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan and draft procedure modules were developed in accordance with:

NFPA-1600, Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management/Business Continuity Programs, Chapter 4 —
• 4.2* Program Coordinator. The program coordinator shall be
appointed by the entity and authorized to administer and
keep current the program.
• 4•3* Advisory Committee.
• 4.3.1* An advisory committee shall be established by the entity
in accordance with its policy.
• 4.3.2 The advisory committee shall provide input to or assist
in the coordination of the preparation, implementation,
evaluation, and revision of the program.

FEMA Emergency Planning guidance
• Emergency Planning, IS-235
• Decision Making Problem Solving, IS 241
• Introduction to Hazard Mitigation, IS 393
• National Incident Management System IS 700

NFPA -704, Standard for the Identification of Hazard Materials for Emergency Response
• Hazard Assessment focused on the Unincorporated Town of Pahrump

29 CFR 1910.038 OSHA, Employee emergency plans and fire prevention plans

29 CFR 1910.120 OSHA, Hazardous waste operations and emergency response

Homeland Security Presidential Directive, HSPD-.5 Management of Domestic Incidents
Homeland Security Presidential Directive HSPD-7 Critical Infrastructure Identification,
Prioritization, and Protection
Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-8 National Preparedness
Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-9 Defense of United States Agriculture and Food

The module completion status:

Response Module: 80% complete — requires Emergency Support Functions and memorandums of understanding (MOU) completion. The EM&HS Advisory Board submitted a written request through the Town Manager to the Town Board in late 2007 requesting approval to contact Pahrump businesses, volunteer organizations, churches and charities to begin the planning and MOU process. Several queries were made about the status of the request. The Town Board did not reply to the request.

• Damage Assessment Module: 90% complete — Lacks Town specific assignments and processes. Checklists are in place.

• Recovery Module: 90% complete — Lacks Town specific assignments and processes. Checklists are in place.

• Finance Module: 45% complete — Lacks Town specific assignments and processes. Minimum Checklists are in place.

• Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Module: 98% complete. Lacks Town approval.

Three of the five modules originally submitted to the Town Board for review, revision and comments were placed on the Town Website. Two additional updated drafts have been submitted to the Town Board since that time in both hard copy and electronically. None of these document submissions were acknowledged, the requested Town specific information was not provided, reviews, revisions or comments tendered were not returned to the EM&HS Advisory Board for conflict resolution. There has been no communication from the Town Board to this Advisory Board concerning the completion of the procedure modules.

During the last eighteen months the EM&HS Advisory Board has, at the request of the Town Board, contributed the following suggestions to enhance the emergency response capabilities for managing displaced persons.

• White Paper:
o Purchasing 5 refurbished Generators
o Valley Electric was contacted to determine the appropriate power transfer systems
o During power outages and other emergencies - Use the generator power to support

• The Town Office — Critical Services
• Building and Grounds Offices/Shops —Critical services to support the Town Office or emergency response.
• Main Fire Station (Station #1-Hwy 160) Critical to maintain equipment and response to Town emergencies.
Ambulance Bay
• Community Center, Petrak Park and Rodeo Grounds — Critical to support Town citizens during a disaster. (establishing an emergency evacuation area)
The Town Board did not make follow up contact the EM&HS Advisory Board to discuss the White Paper. When asked for status, the Liaison indicated that there would be no additional communications with the advisory board on this issue. To date nothing has been accomplished.

History:

The EM&HS Advisory Board, formerly Emergency Services Advisory Board was established by the Unincorporated Town of Pahrump prior to Y2K and has been active and productive throughout its tenure. Although the assignments and requests by the Town Board have changed through the years, the EM&HS Advisory Board has always been prompt and concise and has consistently submitted quality products and sound advice based on documented research.
More than two elected Town Boards have embraced the work this advisory board has completed and provided to the Town. The Town has acknowledged the work by publishing the base Emergency Management Program and Emergency Declaration.

The Emergency Declaration was invoked during the Pahrump wildfire siege several years ago. The Emergency Declaration was used to formally request assistance and response from the County Commissioners and the Nye County Emergency Management Director to assist Pahrump in fighting the fires. The Emergency Declaration is required by Homeland Security (Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA) to formally request county, State and Federal response.

The efforts of the EM&HS Advisory Board have been entirely volunteer; the Unincorporated Town of Pahrump has not provided the advisory board with compensation, supplies or equipment. However, a place to conduct meetings was provided. The prior Town Boards realized that Town Board involvement was paramount in completing the five additional modules needed to publish and implement the procedure portion of the plan and training was required to understand and successfully perform emergency management tasks. The FEMA training program was introduced to the last Town Board both electronic and hard copies of the training were provided to enable them to complete the courses at their convenience. At the time the last Town Board stepped down over 70% of the work had been completed on the plan modules and it was time for the Town Board to become completely involved to ensure the end product design would satisfactorily reflect the Town duties, obligations, initial emergency response, long term response and recovery for employees and Pahrump citizens.

At the time the EM&HS Advisory Board was successfully interfacing with the previous Town Board and both entities were working toward one goal, I could not have imagined that I would be writing to inform you of the EM&HS Advisory Boards intention of dissolving and resigning from further volunteer service to the Unincorporated Town of Pahrump.

Present Issues:

Few current Town Board members have attended meetings; the assigned liaison has been in attendance less than six times over the last two years. Conversely, the last Town Manager attended the meetings on a semi-regular basis and seemed to be dedicated in assisting the board in completing the assigned tasks. Calls and messages to the assigned liaison were consistently unanswered. When the assigned liaison would attend meetings his attitude was perceived to be closed, hostile, and unyielding in his opinions. When the EM&HS Advisory Board attempted to provide the liaison with emergency management training and copies of the guidance being following to develop the modules, there was no interest. FEMA NIMS Workbooks were provided to the Town Board on two occasions, August and October of 2007. No participation was forthcoming.

The Town Board ratifies each advisory board at the beginning of each year. At that time the Town Board has the opportunity to turn down ratification of the entire board or individuals on the board. The EM&HS Advisory Board has been ratified each year. No members have been placed on notice or refused ratification. That being said, the rumor mill has it that the Town Board is unhappy with certain members of the EM&HS Advisory Board. It is true that four members of this board are affiliated with Nye County Emergency Services. They were affiliated when they applied for EM&HS Advisory Board membership and subsequent annual ratification. The Town Board, i.e. the current members, has ratified their membership on the Town Advisory Board.
Therefore, other affiliations shouldn’t be a problem and decorum of professionalism should prevail between the advisory board members and Town employees. That does not seem to be the case. The EM&HS Advisory Board is aware of the hostilities between the Town Fire Rescue/EMS and the County Fire Rescue/EMS. However, when the EM&HS advisory board is in session, the Town needs and requests are paramount. The advisory board members are able to "wear the Town hat" and do Town business in a professional manner.

It seems to be the perception of the Town Board and numerous Town employees that the EM&HS Advisory Board was formed and has an interest in directing the operational aspects of the emergency plan and procedure modules. The members of the EM&HS

Advisory Board are not interested in directing, managing or performing any of the management or command roles described within the existing, published plan or in the draft procedure modules. The EM&HS Advisory Board members are volunteers with paid positions with other agencies, organizations, or entities. The advisory board function and objectives sanctioned by previous Town Boards include:

• Developing, training, assisting in the implementation of the Unincorporated Town of Pahrump Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan and procedure modules.

• Assisting the Town in developing and conducting periodic emergency response drills and training to ensure the proficiency of the Town Staff, i.e. Town Board Members, Town Manager, Finance Manager, office personnel, Buildings and Grounds, etc.

• Review and revise the plan and procedure modules periodically under the guidance of the Town Board.

• Assist in the design, development and implementation of the Unincorporated Town of Pahrump Emergency Operations Center. (includes training Town Board and employees on their roles and responsibilities)

• Seamlessly integrate the Unincorporated Town of Pahrump Emergency Management Program with the County, State and Federal Government emergency management programs, meeting all the State and Federal requirements.

• And to ensure the Town can immediately respond to residents needs by providing protection, evacuation shelters, medical assistance, relief services, and plans and MOUs are in place to safeguard persons and property.

The EM&HS Advisory Board has always looked at emergency management from a high tier management perspective, not from a down in the trenches, field immediate response effort which should have face to face, hands on the situation perspective. That is the major difference between managing scene periphery, managing the jurisdiction outside the emergency scene while ensuring requested resources are provided to the scene for use by the Incident Command Staff to mitigate the emergency.

Prior to the Town Manager leaving his post, he requested that the EM&HS Advisory Board contact a professional Emergency Management Consultant to have the products generated by this advisory board audited for quality, consistency, and to ensure that the plan and procedure modules were in compliance with Federal rules and regulations, and other regulating documents. The plan and procedure modules must seamlessly integrate with the county and State plans.

A consultant, with over 30 years of professional emergency management, conduct of operations, and business continuity experience, was contacted and agreed to review the documents at no cost to the Unincorporated Town of Pahrump. The consultant further agreed to travel from San Francisco, CA. to Pahrump and present his conclusions along with a short update of requirements and recent Federal requirement upgrades. The paperwork requesting a place on the Town Board Agenda was submitted to the Town Board. The Town Board decided that the presentation should be made during a "Special Meeting." The Town Board was not forthcoming with the date and time of the meeting. Because the Town Board was unable or unwilling to accommodate the consultant’s request for confirmation one week prior to the meeting he opted to reschedule for the
second week of June. The meeting was not placed on the Town schedule. The Town Office was contacted early last week and confirmation was requested. A Town employee made phone calls and sent e-mails asking for confirmation. No confirmation was forthcoming. The proposed date was May 24, 2008. Yes, this coming Saturday.

When the EM&HS chairperson returned the EM&HS liaison’s call on Tuesday of this week, the EM&HS liaison informed the EM&HS Chairperson that the consultant was not needed or wanted by the Town Board. In his opinion, Emergency Management should be placed under Pahrump Fire/Rescue purview and no consultant or volunteers were needed by that agency to satisfy Pahrump Valley’s Emergency Management needs. The EM&HS Advisory Board has concluded that there will be no assistance or investment by the Unincorporated Town of Pahrump Town Board in bringing the procedure module completion to a fruitful conclusion. The EM&HS Advisory Board understands the subtle relationship several of the Town Board members have with Pahrump Fire and Rescue.

Therefore we, the members of the EM&HS Advisory Board see no other alternative than to submit our resignation and ask that our advisory board be dissolved. The volunteers who have participated in this advisory board sincerely regret that we were unable to complete the mandate given to us by previous Town Board members. We continue to feel the Unincorporated Town of Pahrump should place planning and emergency preparedness at the highest priority and would be happy to assist in any way possible to enable Pahrump emergency management to become a reality. We hate to leave Town service, but feel it is morally ethical to do so. We wish you, the Town Board and current administration, well and hope that you are successful in your future endeavors.

Very Respectfully,

Sharon A. Wehrly,’EM&H’S Chairperson
Fred Jones, EMHS Vice Chairperson
Warren Pawliuk, EM&HS Secretary
Ron Daviau, EM&HS Member
Martha Wehrly, Memb

cc: Town Office for distribution/file
Sharon Wehrly, EM&HS Chairperson
Fred Jones, EM&HS Chairperson
Warren Pawliuk, EM&HS Secretary
Ron Daviau, EM&HS Member
Martha Wehrly, EM&HS Member
EM&HS Advisory Board Attorney
EM&HS Advisory Board file
Ron Johnson, Former Town Board Member
Paul Willis, Former Town Board Member

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