Mutual Aid for Public Works
Chum Cleverly’s vision of mutual aid for public works is a
reality. His persistence over the past two years has paid off. In November 1998, the
agreements for Mutual Aid for Public Works were sent to the Public Works Director or Road
Agent, Selectmen, and the Emergency Manager of all New Hampshire Municipalities.
Chum worked with the New Hampshire Road Agents Association, the New
Hampshire Municipal Association (NHMA) and the UNH Tē Center to create a dedicated
working committee. The committee wrote the first statewide mutual aid agreement in the US.
The agreement was approved by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office this past
summer.
Not surprisingly, Bow was the first town to sign on to the program. At
press time, twenty communities have signed on.
The agreement package has a diagram of the mutual aid procedures. It
contains an inventory form for participating municipalities to list their available
equipment, personnel, and supplies. The UNH Tē Center will maintain this information in a
database.
Each participating municipality will receive a notebook containing
lists of equipment, personnel, and supplies available from other municipalities. This will
enable a community emergency access to what they need in the way of equipment, personnel
and supplies. NHMA will assemble the notebook, sorted via municipality and equipment,
personnel, and supplies. It will also be available via floppy disk format using Excel.
NHMA will send updates quarterly.
Chum was the first speaker at the program orientation held this fall.
More are scheduled for 1999. Incident Command System for Public Works training is being
scheduled for 1999.
The dues for joining the program are $25.00. If you have questions,
contact Chum at 228-2207 or, Heather at NHMA 800-852-3358, or Kathy at UNH Tē Center
800-423-0060, or check the website at www.t2.unh.edu/ma/.
Return to UNH T2 Center,
33 College Road, Durham NH 03824 603-862-2826 Fax 603-862-2364