A joint committee, made up of Mayoral representatives from the 11 Councils of the Waikato Region, govern civil defence emergency management at a regional level. This collective of Councils is known as the Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management Group.
The group is divided into three areas, roughly based on the natural hazard environment they face.
These areas (Emergency Operating Areas) are responsible for implemmenting civil defence at a local level and are governed by their own joint committee.
Waikato Valley Emergency Operating Area
The Hamilton, Waikato, Waipa, Otorohanga and Waitomo Councils have combined to look after their local civil defence emergency management responsibilities. This group of Councils is called the Waikato Valley Emergency Operating Area.
The name of the joint committee that runs this area is the Waikato Valley Emergency Management Committee. Each council has one Mayoral representative on this committee. The committee agrees the "arrangement" that they will work under to meet their regional responsibilities. The committee meets twice a year to approve and monitor the work programme and financial budgets.
The five councils have agreed to provide 110 fully trained persons to staff the Emergency Operating Centre. With staff turnover and training requirements, this equates to approximately 150 available staff. Staff provided are 75 Hamilton, 30 Waikato, 30 Waipa, 7 Waitomo and 8 Otorohanga.
Training and staff support
There is an agreed training pathway for each position within the response centre and two exercises per year, being March (within council) and October (at the response centre in Hamilton).
Councils have agreed a staff committment, for support staff, of 12 hours per year. Each council also provides one local controller to the Waikato Valley and one local recovery manager for their TA. The local controller is the person who runs the emergency event and prioritises the council response. During a Declration of State of Local Emergency authorised by the Mayor, the locla controller is invested with the powers of the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002.
The recovery manager receives training to run the recovery function after a Declaration of State of Local Emergency is lifted.
Hamilton's dedicated response centre
The five councils have a dedicated response centre situated at the HCC Duke Street depot. This centre is manned by three professional staff. This team provides 24/7 response via a roster.
The team responds to between 70 and 100 alerts per month. The response center has been fully activated approximately three times a year. Hamilton City Council provides the administration function to manage the staff and facility on behalf of the councils.
Changes for the former Franklin district
With the Franklin District Council transition, the southern sector of that council, from Tuakau south, has moved into the Waikato District Council area of coverage. This will occur in the next several months.