[FLARES] WCF Section - Quarterly ARES EC Meeting - June 10, 2006

[KC5QCN]

The ARRL West Central Florida Section Quarterly ARES Emergency Coordinators 
meeting for the 2nd quarter of 2006 will be held on Saturday June 10, 2006 
from 1:00 PM until 3:00 PM at the Charlotte County Emergency Operations 
Center located at 7474 Utilities Road, Punta Gorda, FL 33982. Talk-in will 
be on the 146.745-  WX4E repeater (no PL tone).

All ARES ECs, AECs, and OESs are encouraged to attend.

We will meet at 11:30 AM at The Skyview Cafe located at 28000 Airport Road 
Punta Gorda, FL 33982 for a eat & greet meeting before our 1:00 PM meeting 
at the Charlotte County EOC. The Skyview Cafe restaurant is located about 
1/4 mile past the entrance to the Sheriff/EOC location on Airport Road.

The WCF Section leadership began a policy when they took office in January 
2005 of holding rotating quarterly ARES EC meetings at the Emergency 
Operations Centers of the 10 counties in the West Central Florida Section. 
This was done to promote interoperability between the ARES programs in the 
individual counties and to promote closer ties between the ARES programs 
and their respective Emergency Management agencies.

Previous quarterly ARES EC meetings have been held at the Pinellas County 
EOC, the Desoto County EOC, the Polk County EOC, the Sarasota County EOC, 
and the Pasco County EOC. This rotation will continue until all counties 
have hosted an ARES EC meeting and then the rotation will start again.

The ARRL WCF Section is the leader in the State of Florida in accomplishing 
having all counties in the section achieve a combined ARES/RACES or ACS 
organization and is leading the State of Florida in having interested 
emergency management directors attend our quarterly ARES EC meetings.

Of the quarterly ARES EC meetings held to date at county emergency 
operations centers, four county emergency management directors have 
attended our meetings and expressed their support for using amateur radio 
as part of their county's ESF-2 backup/auxiliary communications plans.

All counties in the ARRL West Central Florida Section.are now staffed with 
a single ARES/RACES or ACS leader of a unified ARES/RACES or ACS 
organization that has a working relationship with their county's emergency 
management agency.