Homeland Security & NIMS & UTL

NCSBCS/AMCBO Public Sector Members Important Issues Call Summary - December 20, 2004

Emily Templeton, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs
Greg Burgoon, Building Official, Akron, Ohio
James Hanna, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development
Al Mitchel, Kentucky State Fire Marshal
Dan Dedentro, Rhode Island Building Commissioner
Jeff Starkey, Building Commissioner, Wilmington, Delaware
Andrew Adelman, General Manager, City of Los Angeles
Steve Ikkanda & Ms. Harper, City of Los Angeles
Ila Jones, Florida Department of Community Affairs
Raj Sharma, Building Official, Dallas, Texas
Claude Cooper, Building Commissioner, Richmond, Virginia
Todd Sharpe, Department of Homeland Security
Robert Wible, Executive Director, NCSBCS

AMCBO Chairman Claude Cooper and NCSBCS Regulatory Affairs Committee Chairperson Ila Jones welcomed guest speakers, Gil Jameson, NIC Director, FEMA, and Patricia Malak, Program Evaluation Office, Office of Domestic Preparedness, DHS, to the joint NCSBCS/AMCBO public sector members important issues conference call on the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Universal Task List (UTL).

Mr. Cooper thanked the guest speakers for joining in this call to update NCSBCS and AMCBO members on the above two important Homeland Security issues. Mr. Jameson was asked to speak first on NIMS.

Mr. Jameson noted that FEMA’s Loss Reduction and Mitigation Center was pleased to be in a partnership with NCSBCS and AMCBO on NIMS. They looked forward to working with both organizations to find ways to collaborate to assist state and local building officials and elected officials to support understanding and support of homeland security objectives and the National Incident Management System.

Mr. Jameson described how FEMA/DHS were working to build connections with stakeholders and, in doing so, established a NIMS Advisory Council. He added that it was critical that this cannot be a federally driven system. It has to be a partnership involving all levels of government and the private sector.

The NIMS Integration Center is looking forward to working with states and localities to update their operations plans to include the provisions of the National Incident Management System. (Ms. Malak added that the same spirit of cooperation with state and local governments was true in the Office of Domestic Preparedness.)

As a part of that outreach effort to state and local governments, FEMA will be developing a series of "how to guides." Examples of such guides might include a guide for the medical community on how to integrate NIMS or how to update an existing disaster plan to comply with NIMS.

Mr. Jameson and those on the call briefly discussed the view from the building officials that perhaps a "how to" guide targeted at building officials and their elected officials might be useful. It was noted that this could be looked into and discussed at a later date.

Mr. Jameson opened the call to questions.

Several building officials noted the need for greater uniformity in, or at least an understanding between federal agencies, state and local governments of, the different definitions used in damage and safety assessments. It was agreed that this is an area that building officials could provide input to FEMA and to state and local elected officials in the near future. (AMCBO and NCSBCS are considering launching a project in this area.)

Los Angeles asked if there would be any guidance from FEMA/DHS on the handling of historic structures in disaster planning, response and recovery. It was noted that building officials should work with relevant national associations involved in historic preservation to coordinate the development of better understanding of historic buildings in disasters.

The need for coordination between the Department of Labor’s OSHA office regarding safety requirements for workers involved in disaster response, damage assessment, and recovery was briefly discussed. Mr. Jameson and Ms. Malak both noted OSHA’s close coordination and cooperation with DHS and FEMA in this national effort and that it would be useful for building officials to offer examples of areas where they have concerns with current OSHA safety requirements. It was agreed to provide such examples.

Mr. Jameson thanked everyone for having the opportunity to participate on the call. Mr. Cooper and Ms. Jones thanked him for his presentation.

Mr. Cooper and Ms. Jones welcomed Ms. Patricia Malak and asked her to provide an update on programs being made in the Universal Task List and Target Capabilities List by her office.

She thanked NCSBCS and AMCBO for their recent input to the Universal Task List that has now been updated to include some 1,800 Tasks, including those submitted by the two organizations.

To support the list of universal tasks that must be performed at the federal, state, and local levels of government in preparation for, response to, and recovery from, manmade and natural disasters, DHS is now working on expanding its draft Target Capabilities List.

Mr. Sharpe from DHS invited NCSBCS and AMCBO, along with other national organizations representing state and local government, to participate in a conference call on Wednesday December 22 to review procedures to provide input by January 17, 2005 on a draft TCL. DHS by statute must provide the White House (and Congress) with a completed TCL by January 31, 2005. Ms. Malak noted that this will be a living document and will undergo numerous updates.

She noted that qualified state and local government officials could view the TCL and comment on it by going to www.llis.gov.

Mr. Cooper and Mr. Wible will be on the December 22, 2004, DHS conference call on the TCL and will provide interested members with input on the outcome of that call.

Questions from those on the call to Ms. Malak included one from Los Angeles regarding the availability of support from the federal government for training. Ms. Malak noted that existing training programs were being reviewed against NIMS, the UTL and TCL and where gaps might exist DHS would work with states and others to fill those gaps. It was noted that some of the ODP Homeland Security Grant funds could be used for training.

Ms. Jones and Mr. Cooper thanked Ms. Malak and Mr. Sharpe for their participation on the afternoon’s call.

The call was adjourned at 1:15 p.m.

C. Date and Time of Next Important Issues Call - January 18, 2005 @ Noon to 1:00 pm - Nightclub Safety

The next joint NCSBCS/AMCBO public sector members important issues conference call will be held at noon Eastern Time on Tuesday, January 18. The call will cover an update on what states and localities are doing about public safety in nightclubs.