Public safety officials work to improve emergency response

Mike McCoy photo Mo. Homeland Security Coordinator Paul Fennewald addresses Thursday's meeting in Dexter.

Paul Fennewald, Missouri Homeland Security Coordinator, asked a crowd of emergency responders, "Is Homeland Security making us safe?"

Fennewald was addressing the Region E Homeland Security Oversight Committee Thursday at a public meeting at the Dexter Elks Lodge. The committee is made up of emergency management and public safety personnel from Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Dunklin, Iron, New Madrid, Madison, Mississippi, Pemiscott, Ripley, Scott, Stoddard and Wayne Counties.

After addressing many funding and organizational issues concerning the handling of emergency and disaster situations, Fennewald concluded, "After looking at all the equipment and the people involved, I can say we are safer, but we could be better."

The Region E meeting featured a display of high-tech communications equipment, transportation vehicles and other public safety equipment that has been purchased with federal Homeland Security funding. The Department of Homeland Security was created following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Fennewald said there had been a big shift in how Homeland Security funds are distributed in Missouri. Under former Gov. Matt Blunt the Advisory Council was created to oversee the funding process to regional oversight committees. The Advisory Council is in the Missouri Department of Public Safety. Missouri received $17,000,000 in the first year from Homeland Security funding. That amount has dwindled each year, according to Fennewald. This year the state received $7 million to be distributed to the various regions. Region E received around $900,000 this past year.

Fennewald said in the first years of funding availability the approach was "to throw money at the squeaking wheel." He said much of the funding was concentrated in a geographical corridor from St. Louis to Kansas City with Columbia in between. The only funding going to areas like Southeast Missouri was when someone "squeaked" enough, he said.

"There was a lot of money thrown into public safety after 9/11," Fennewald said. "Money can do a lot of things but it can't do it all."

Finnewald said the regional meetings came about as a way to gain "grassroots" input into the process and develop better communications between the various agencies involved in disaster response. The regional committees are made up of members of law enforcement, city and county government, fire departments, emergency medical services, 911 services, the Department of Health, volunteer organizations and private industry.

"This region really gets it," Fennewald stated. "It understands what Homeland Security is all about."

The most important aspect of disaster response is good communication between the various agencies and being able to utilize resources quickly, he told the crowd.

He noted that oversight committee members would be meeting later in the day, and this regional meeting was "monumental" in that the committee would be given information to help write grants instead of relying on a state agency for the process. He said it was up to the committee to prioritize the needs of the region and make that information available to the Advisory Council which will determine where the money goes.

Fennewald said that a list of priorities should include a long-term process for strategic planning, the establishment of equipment standards for all agencies, establishing a reserve fund for special needs that may arise in the future and to create a by-law so that committee members that do not attend meetings regularly can be replaced.

Fennewalk noted that funding from Homeland Security is decreasing each year, but that the state has committed to maintaining the funding to the local levels at the same amount as in the past year. He said this is only possible through better oversight of the spending and conserving resources at the state level.

"The funding may dwindle to nothing," he said, "but the Homeland Security process will still be in place."

The bringing together of all the various "disciplines" into one room to discuss ways to improve public safety is the main purpose of the public meeting held Thursday, he told those present.

"We are trying to open the process to everyone to see what is being done with the money," Fennewald said.

The meeting started at 10 a.m. with the public portion with break-out sessions and the full Region E Oversight Committee meeting held in the afternoon. The meeting was presided over by Chairman Charles Jones, fire chief at Caruthersville.

Representatives of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the US Coast Guard and State Fire Safety were in attendance to speak with the public and provide input into the grant programs available through their respective agencies. SEMA hosted the event.