Agenda - 04-01-2003-8h - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: April 1, 2003 Action Ager~ a j Item No. 1'1 SUBJECT: Acceptance of Grant Allocation for Domestic Preparedness Program from the Department of Justice; and Award of Bid for Purchase of Protective Breathing Apparatus DEPARTMENT: Emergency Management PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): Memorandum of Agreement 11 /12/02 NCDEM Notification Letter Grant Funding Allocation Chart Bid Tabulation INFORMATION CONTACT: Nick Waters, ext 3030 Pam Jones, 245-2652 TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Chapel Hill 968-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To accept a state pass-through grant allocation in the amount of $55,582 to purchase equipment and perform training for local public safety responders; and to award a bid for purchase of protective breathing apparatus. BACKGROUND: The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) awarded the State of North Carolina funding for equipment and training exercises through the FY 2002 State Domestic Preparedness Program. The program is designed to improve domestic terrorism preparedness through the purchase of equipment for first responders, as well as providing funding for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) training exercises. Funding is allocated on a DOJ formula of 80% for local government and 20% for state use. This money was allocated to the County under the guidelines of the U.S. Department of Justice without grant applications having to be made. The accompanying memorandum of agreement between the County and the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management lays out the conditions for the grant funding. Orange County Emergency Management staff conducted meetings to determine a Countywide need to which the grant allocation could be applied. Participants in the meetings included representatives of Chapel Hill fire and police, Carrboro fire and police, UNC and Hospital Police, Orange County Sheriff and Hillsborough Police. Input was also received from the Orange County Health Department. All parties agreed that protection of first line responders was of primary importance and that protective breathing apparatus in the form of air purifying respirators should be requested. The respirators specified by the various agencies allow the filters to be located to the right, left or center of the units, thereby allowing greater flexibility to the first responder in their operation of other equipment that may be required. By way of example, this equipment could be of particular value in circumstances that might require