Emergency planning

MILLBROOK — The Millbrook Highway Department continues to pick up fallen debris from the October snowstorm. Highway Superintendent Bob Collocola in his monthly report at the Monday, Nov. 14, Village Board meeting said his crews have been making 16 to 18 trips a day, removing brush and debris from residents’ properties and bringing it to the village highway department, and that it will continue to do so for another two weeks.“I can’t tell you how many positive comments I have received from the residents about your highway crew’s performance and the storm cleanup,” said Mayor Laura Hurley. “I know it’s never-ending, back breaking [work], and we want to send our appreciation out to the guys.”Hurley said that the debris and brush pickup is a top priority for the village. Collocola agreed, but said there is one issue his department is facing while cleaning up brush — some residents are not cooperating — and it’s making the process that much more difficult. “The last couple of days people have been putting chairs, boxes of books, pictures, frames [and other items out]. They just put all their garbage [out for us to pick up],” Collocola said. “Plus, they are just cleaning out their yards, and you just name it, and they will throw it in there. I am taking [the items] out and putting them back in their yards. But they are taking advantage of [our service] and that’s slowing us down.”Collocola said it would be beneficial to set some guidelines for people regarding what the village will accept while picking up storm debris. The Highway Department also experienced problems from people leaving their leaves on top of catch basins, in order that it will be picked up first, according to the highway superintendent.“Little things like that need to be written out at the beginning of the year, so we have guidelines to brush and leaf pickup,” said Collocola. “[People need to know] what not to do and what to do. Whether they follow it, who knows, but maybe somebody will.”Joint Emergency Preparedness PlanThe town of Washington and the village of Millbrook, meanwhile, have been working on a joint disaster preparedness plan for about three years. The joint emergency plan was created in order to address a major catastrophe, for an event even bigger than a hurricane or snowstorm.“Something so catastrophic that you really don’t even want to think about it,” Hurley said, describing what the plan could be used for. “Something like a jet liner crashing on Franklin Avenue, an earthquake hitting the area and cutting us off or an influx of people from New York City [flooding the area after] something related to a nuclear problem happens — these are major catastrophes.”Hurley said it has been a long process putting the plan together, but throughout it she has learned a lot about how to respond to big and small emergencies. The plan is now at the stage where the village and town both have their own individual emergency plans as well as a joint plan. There still needs to be administrative authority for the plans to be enacted. On Monday, Dec. 5, there will be a meeting at the Town Hall at 7 p.m. between the two boards focusing on the Joint Emergency Preparedness Plan. The plan will not be enacted that night because Washington town Supervisor Florence Prisco said she felt there were too many questions to answer before the plan can be enacted. A local law will be required for the plan to be enacted; once that is done there will be two different councils established for oversight of the plan. One council will be the “Preparedness Council,” similar to the group that has been meeting for the past three years which put together the emergency plans for the village and town. The second council will be the “Emergency Services Council,” which will figure out the hierarchy of responsibility in the event of an emergency, said Rebecca Valk, attorney for both the village and the town. Another aspect of the plan that needs to be worked out is how the community can be brought into the process.“If you don’t have the support and involvement of the community then you really don’t have much of an operating plan,” said Stan Morse, deputy mayor.One of the final steps to finishing the plan is finding potential participants from the town or village who would be willing to step up and help execute the plan in the case of a major emergency.“From where we started three and a half years ago we have made huge strides,” Morse said. “We had an emergency plan for both the town and the village, which was one or two pages and loosely worded. It wasn’t really much of a plan. What we have come up with is a very complex and thoroughly detailed three-ring binder for both the village and the town. I am really proud of participating in this process because I think we are far better off then we were three years ago.”