6. Establish robust processes which ensure succession planning for key roles is in place. 7. Readiness also reflects the importance of relationships that support recovery. Community-led recovery relies on existing and new community connections and relationships, built prior to response and recovery. 5.2 Current Arrangements 5.2.1 Capability Development To reduce the pressures of both agencies to recruit volunteers CDEM and Rural Fire have combined their Incident Management Teams to form one Regional Incident Management Team for Marlborough. Team members come from many different backgrounds including Council staff but all volunteer their time to train. The team has the ability to respond to a wide range of emergencies and trains monthly in the Emergency Operations Centre sometimes as individual functions (eg; operations, planning) and at others as an entire team on a scenario. The Marlborough Emergency Response Team is based at the EOC and in 2016 included 17 members who are fully kitted and trained to respond to various types of emergency. The team is not a registered RT team. They train fortnightly and are well equipped to carry out their initial response function as well as providing logistical support during large rural fire events. The team often trains with other initial response agencies such as NZ Red Cross, St John, Coastguard and the NZDF (mostly Airforce personnel from Woodbourne Airbase. Marlborough Emergency Response Team Members MDC Customer Service Officers and some other staff carry out regular training in the use of EMIS so that they can transition into the EOC when required. Emergency Operations Centre and CIMS 2 and 4 courses continue to be held as demand warrants. These courses give volunteers and stakeholders’ staff (often those in a liaison role) a good working knowledge of how an emergency is managed. Marlborough Civil Defence Emergency Management Plan, 2017-2022 Page 37