SR 07-23-2019 3N
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: July 23, 2019
Agenda Item: 3.N
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Bill Walker, Fire Chief, Fire Department
Subject: Authorize acceptance of the 2018 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Grant
Funds for Homeland Security Projects and enter into a Subrecipient
agreement with the City of Los Angeles
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Authorize the City Manager to accept a grant awarded in the amount of $45,000
from the 2018 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) for homeland security
projects, and to accept all grant renewals.
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary documents to accept the
grant and all grant renewals.
3. Authorize budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
section of this report.
Summary
In 2018, $45,000 was awarded to the City of Santa Monica Fire Department as a part of
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management
Agency's (FEMA) Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant. Staff recommends that
Council authorize acceptance of the 2018 UASI grant funds and execution of a
subrecipient agreement with the City of Los Angeles for a performance period of
September 1, 2018 to May 31, 2021. The City of Los Angeles administers the UASI
grant on behalf of the Los Angeles-Long Beach Urban Area, which includes Santa
Monica. The Fire Department was awarded funding totaling $45,000 to be used for
Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) Training, for
Hazardous Materials Training (HazMat), and for Urban Search and Rescue Training.
Discussion
The UASI program focus is on enhancing regional preparedness and capabilities in
major metropolitan areas. The Santa Monica Fire Department requested funds to send
staff to trainings that support its core public safety missions as well as regional
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homeland security goals. The following are the four major regional homeland security
focus areas of the UASI grant program, known as Investment Justifications:
1. Strengthen interoperable and communications capabilities;
2. Strengthen information sharing, collaboration capabilities, and law enforcement
investigations;
3. Protection of critical infrastructure and key resources;
4. Catastrophic incident planning response and recovery.
The Fire Department would use $45,000 in funds to send members to training to
support the City’s Type I USAR and HazMat teams and specialized Haz Mat CBRNE
training. Procurement for projects funded by the UASI grant will follow Santa Monica’s
policies regarding competitive procurement processes.
The UASI program directly supports the national priority of expanding regional
collaboration within the National Preparedness Goal, which defines what it means for
the whole community to be prepared for all types of disasters and emergencies. The
UASI grant is intended to assist participating jurisdictions in developing integrated
regional systems for prevention, protection, response, and recovery from natural or
man-made disasters.
The UASI 2018 program will fund projects in 29 high -threat, high density areas selected
by DHS. The UASI grant program was created to support large, "core" cities and those
other cities with contiguous borders to the core city. The City of Los Angeles is the
region's core city for the UASI grant and allocates funds to the City of Santa Monica. A
regional working group and approval authority, made up of UASI stakeholders from
throughout the Los Angeles-Long Beach Urban Area, are the governance bodies that
determine which regional projects to submit to DHS for grant funding.
The UASI grant program is 100% federally funded from the Department of Homeland
Security and managed through the State of California's Office of Emergency Services.
The City of Santa Monica has received over $12 million in UASI funding since 2003.
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These funds have been used to purchase necessary interoperable communication and
infrastructure 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.
Financial Impacts
Staff seeks authority to accept a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,
Federal Emergency Management Agency for the 2018 UASI program to fund training in
direct support of overall regional goals to promote effective information gathering,
sharing, and response to threats and/or acts of terrorism.
FY 2019-20 Grant Budget Changes
Establish Revenue Budget Appropriate Funds
20190001.40428C 20190001.55518C
$45,000 $45,000
Prepared By: Terese Toomey, Principal Administrative Analyst
Approved
Forwarded to Council