On Thursday perhaps the most important meeting yet about our chemical weapons stockpile and emergency preparedness took place in town. And believe it or not, top Pentagon officials and representatives of other federal, state and local entities agreed on a number of items, including beefing up staffing at the county emergency management agency and defining the toxicity level of the nerve agents.
Then after six hours of going over the points, individual members were given the task of deciphering the problems surrounding the remaining points and were told to report back when the group meets again in September.
On the surface, then, it was a good meeting. Except none of it really counted for much. That's because two of the most important entities in this whole thing, the Calhoun County Commission and the county EMA, were not present.
Now let's not make much of why the commission wasn't present. The short of it was that Commission members told Pentagon officials earlier they would not be available the week of Aug. 20. The annual convention of county commissioners was being held in Point Clear. The Pentagon knew that and should have rescheduled the meeting. But when it was clear the Pentagon would not or could not rearrange it, then at least one of the commissioners should have taken leave from south Alabama and been here for the meeting.
Of course, that assumes the commission wants to be a part of these proceedings. It would be more than wise for them to do so. But it is clear commission members are not happy with the structure of this body, which is setting out to try to address a list of outstanding issues concerning emergency preparedness the commission and the EMA have long demanded. The issues range from staffing and protective hoods to additional sirens that come to around $30 million.
Do commission members want to be a part of this or not? Do they want to resolve these outstanding issues so we can all move forward in a coordinated effort to educate the public about what to do in case of an accident at the Depot or not? If they don't want any part of this, then they should just come out and say so. That would make things much less complicated.
That is the commission's story. But what about the EMA and its director, Mike Burney? Why was he not present at the meeting? Burney should have been at this meeting, a meeting that dealt with his specific responsibilities.
This is inexcusable. But then again maybe Burney doesn't want anything to do with this body either. If that's so, then let's hear him say it instead of watching him flee town when Pentagon brass comes around.
The Pentagon's failure to alter the meeting, the commission's failure to bend and Burney's failure to show up, however, are marginal issues. What is important here is finding a way to address the emergency preparedness concerns of the County Commission.
