Agenda - 01-26-2004-9a - Laserfiche WebLink

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7 or related infrastructure improvements. The County has submitted a request for generator funding through a different grant, Preliminary indications are that Orange County will receive favorable consideration of a portion of the grant funding it has requested for emergency power enhancements. Formal notification and acceptance of those grant funds are expected later this spring. Two similar equipment and training grant projects were undertaken in FY 2002-03, using the same approach as for this proposed grant acceptance.. Through these two grants, the BOCC accepted $172,235 in funding for the County distributed through the Department of Justice (now Department of Homeland Security) for terrorism preparedness equipment, exercise costs, and training expenses. The County used a similar consultative process during these past two grant awards for determining emergency response agency needs. The decision was made to purchase gas masks and accessories for use by community public safety and emergency response personnel, other personal protective equipment, chemical detection devices, and computer-based incident management programs. The gas masks have been received and were distributed to users on August 19, 2003. Staff is currently in the process of ordering the equipment from the most recently approved grant. An exercise design team is developing a series of exercises to test the capabilities of the County's contagious disease response plan and other County and municipal agencies' plans associated with such an incident. These exercises are expected to occur this summer. Training for emergency responders is being scheduled to provide all interested responders with the necessary skills and information to increase the capability to act in a terrorism awareness and response capacity. Other more advanced training classes are expected to occur throughout the year. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no County match required for the receipt of the State- administered reimbursable Federal grant. The County will seek reimbursement from the State pursuant to the terms of the grant. There may be some incidental use of existing staff time; however, no additional County costs should be expected. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board: • Accept the allocation award; • Authorize the Manager to sign the Memorandum of Agreement; • Authorize the Manager to sign the Assurances of Participation; • Authorize the Manager to identify Nick Waters, Director of Emergency Management, as the Designated Agent under Annex B; and • Authorize the Manager to identify Eric Griffin, Emergency Management Specialist, as the Point of Contact under Annex B.