By Will Sentell
The Advocate (Louisiana)
Copyright 2006 Capital City Press
A controversial panel set up to improve communications among emergency workers during hurricanes remains in the organizational stage five months after it was formed.
The committee, which met on Wednesday, was created by Gov. Kathleen Blanco on Jan. 25 to respond to problems that surfaced during hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Water and wind knocked out telephone lines and electricity to government and commercial communication towers. That made the use of radios and cell phones difficult and limited Internet availability during and after the storms.
However, the 28-member panel appointed to come up with solutions, spent part of its three-hour meeting on Wednesday discussing attendance problems, plans for bylaws to govern operations and the role of proxies in the study group.
“The decision on the timing, I have no idea,” Michael Abbiatti, chairman of the Statewide Interoperable Communication System Executive Committee said when asked to explain the delay. In this case, interoperability means the ability of police, fire, ambulance and other emergency workers to effectively communicate during a crisis.
Abbiatti said he was contacted in April about being chairman of the group.
Early that month criticism surfaced that the committee had yet to hold a meeting and that some local emergency workers viewed the panel as top-heavy with state officials.
The committee held its first meeting May 12, Abbiatti said. That was two days after the Senate voted 39-0 to set up a new panel to improve communications among emergency workers. Backers of the legislation, which was sponsored by Sen. Walter Boasso, R-Arabi, said the committee named by the governor was not making progress and was missing out on the chance for federal dollars.
That bill died last week in a House committee amid criticism from Blanco’s office and some members of Abbiatti’s panel.
But Louisiana State Police Superintendent Henry Whitehorn, a member of the panel, said getting members to show up for the sessions has been a problem.
“What we need to do is figure out a way to get members to come to these meetings,” Whitehorn said.
He added later: “What I said may have been a little crude. But this is important. It bothers me.”
Abbiatti said one option he considered is to forward names of panel members missing meetings to Blanco’s office with the request: “We need some help here.” He said later that concerns about the legislation and the start of hurricane season on June 1 could have affected turnout earlier.
The committee includes top officials or their representatives for the state transportation, public safety, National Guard, wildlife and fisheries and homeland security offices. Others include leaders of the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association, Police Chiefs Association, Louisiana Fire Chiefs Association, select lawmakers and leaders of improved communication working groups for nine regions statewide.
Federal officials are encouraging law enforcement to move to a new system that would provide better voice communications as well as data and imagery. Whitehorn said his aim is for an improved system that does not require local agencies to spend money for membership and maintenance fees.
Whitehorn also said he has asked Andy Kopplin, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, for $100 million through the LRA toward that goal. Blanco set up the LRA to oversee hurricane recovery. The same request, he said, went to Jimmy Clarke, who is chief of staff for Blanco.
“They have not told me they couldn’t do it, they haven’t told me they could do it,” Whitehorn said.
Abbiatti said Wednesday’s meeting was the fifth for the committee, which he said will meet weekly through Aug. 30 and then move to a monthly schedule. The panel is supposed to make recommendations on what improvements are needed and how to finance them by March.
“If we don’t do this the way we need to do it, people will die,” he said.