SR-02-24-2015-3JCity Council Meeting: February 24, 2015
Agenda Item: i__
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Scott Ferguson, Fire Chief
Jacqueline A. Seabrooks, Chief of Police
Subject: Acceptance of 2014 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Grant Funds
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1) Authorize the City Manager to accept a grant awarded in the amount of $308,507
from the 2014 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) and execute subrecipient
agreement and related documents to purchase equipment and training that
supports regional homeland security goals; and
2) Authorize budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impact and Budget Actions
section of this report.
Executive Summary
In 2014, $308,507 was awarded to the City of Santa Monica Police and Fire
Departments as a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal
Emergency Management Agency's UASI grant. Funds were requested to purchase
equipment and training that supports regional homeland security goals, specifically an
annual maintenance package for the automated license plate reading (ALPR) system
for the Police Department, terrorism liaison officer training, hazardous material (HazMat)
training and equipment, urban search and rescue (USAR) training and equipment and
chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) training and
equipment for the Fire Department.
Discussion
The UASI program focuses on enhancing regional preparedness in major metropolitan
areas. The UASI program directly supports the national priority of expanding regional
collaboration within the national preparedness guidelines and is intended to assist
participating jurisdictions in developing integrated regional systems for prevention,
protection, response, and recovery from natural or man -made disasters.
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The UASI grant program was created to support large, "core" cities and those other
cities with contiguous borders to the core city. The UASI grant program is 100%
federally funded from the Department of Homeland Security managed through the State
of California. The City of Los Angeles is the Los Angeles region's core city for the UASI
grant and allocates funds to the City of Santa Monica.
The City of Santa Monica has directly received over $4.0 million of Department of
Homeland Security no -match grant funds since 2001. These funds have been used to
purchase necessary equipment, supplies, and training in direct support of overall
regional goals to promote effective information gathering, sharing, and response to
threats and /or acts of terrorism.
The Police Department would use $30,000 of the $308,507 UASI 2014 grant to
purchase an annual maintenance package for ALPR, to support the department's
current ALPR system. ALPR is utilized to capture images of all license plates that come
into view of cameras and query criminal databases to compare the scanned license
plates with those entered in the databases as stolen or wanted. The Fire Department
would use the remaining funds in the following ways: $128,507 to fund HazMat, USAR,
and CBRNE training and equipment and $150,000 to purchase training props and
equipment which support regional homeland security goals.
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Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
Award of a $308,507 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal
Emergency Management Agency requires the following FY 2015 -16 budget changes:
1. Establish revenue budgets at account 20304.406806 in the amount of $30,000
and account 20312.406805 in the amount of $278,507
2. Appropriate the following expenditures to reflect receipt of the 2014 UASI grant:
$30,000 at account 20304.555406, $128,507 at account 20312.555400, and
$150,000 at account C209108.589000
Prepared by: Terese Toomey, Principal Administrative Analyst
Approved:
Forwarded to Council:
Elaine Polachek
Interim City Manager
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