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Home My WebLink AboutOB 5 TUSTIN EMERG PLN 11-16-87I / I [] ~ I OLD BUSINESS NO. 5 ~ TO: FROM: SUBJECT: WILLIAM HUSTON, CITY MANAGER PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT/ENGINEERING DIVISION TUSTIN EMERGENCY PLAN RECOMMENDATION: Request the Tustin City Council, at their regular meeting of November 16, 1987, adopt proposal #4 as delineated on the last page. of this report i.e. commit more staff time to Emergency Management with assistance from the State Office of Emergency Services. BACKGROUND: Two Council meetings ago, staff was directed to prepare a report regarding the status of Tustin's existing Emergency Plan and submit information for the upgrade of said plan and the City's Emergency Services Program. Currently, the City meets the minimal requirements for an Emergency Plan for a non- EMA city' (EMA fully described on page two (2) this report). It is readily admitted that the existing plan and City participation in emergency prepared- ness work should be upgraded above this minimal level. Since the reorganization of the Public Works Department, more time is available and has been utilized for this function. As'stated in a previous information report to council, the Emergency Services Coordinator/Public Information Officer (the Administrative Assistant in the Public Works Department) has participated in training programs for the major multi-hazards exclusive of Civil Defense programs (conventional war, nuclear attack, terrorism and riots). The coordinator has also participated in other training such as the legal ramifications of emergency planning, community training, a new program for air disasters and work with the various forms of media for Public Information functions. The ultimate decision as to what level the City will participate in emergency preparedness lies with the Council. Following is a discussion of several options which Council might consider when making this decision. DISCUSSION: It must first be realized that emergency services encompasses much more than a basic response plan with an Earthquake preparedness annex. The State has already enacted legislation requiring a multi-hazard plan for Emergency Management Assisted (EMA) cities. While some n°n-EMA cities in. the state are not participating in preparing a multi-hazard plan, most Orange County cities are developing such a plan. There is little doubt that a multi-hazard plan will be required by even non-EMA cities in the near future. The development of a multi-hazard plan requires a great deal of time and coordination among all departments. It is possible to recover part of these costs by becoming an EMA city. The Federal Government proyides monies to the State through the Office of Emergency Services (EOS). Some of the money is used at the state level, the remaining funds are disbursed to the requesting cities upon conditions: 1) a staff person (or more) must devote 100% of their time to emergency services work; and 2), 50% of the full time staff members time must be devoted to Civil Defense. The percentage of money recoverable depends on the number of agencies that apply for the assistance. OES estimates that thirty-five to forty percent of the salary costs were recovered by each applying agency this year. This program has been in place for several years, however, there is no guarantee that the program will continue or the amount of funding available from year to year. The utilization of a Consulting services to prepare the Emergency Plan has been suggested. In order to provide Council information regarding this approach, staff contacted several agencies, that have used Consultants, that have not used Consultants as well as County Emergency Services and OES. The majority of the cities using a consultant are smaller cities i.e. San Juan Capistrano and Seal Beach. San Juan Capistrano employs a very small staff and contracts for safety related services (Police and Fire). This city' is most in favor of using a consultant due to time constraints; however, they used the consultant to prepare only the basic plan and annex A (Earthquake) the remaining five (5) annexes and other supplemental sections of the plan will be prepared by staff. Seal Beach has also used a consultant and is basically satisfied with the detail of the plan but the turn around of the finished document is not meeting expectations. Cities that are developing their plan in-house admit that it takes a considerable amount of time but also feel that an in-house plan suits the needs of their city better. This is also the consensus of the County Emergency Services and OES representatives. They feel that any plan, while generic in some respects, must also be unique to each organization to realize optimum utility and this uniqueness is best developed by staff. Furthermore, it seems to be the opinion that plans are not as readily updated (which is a continual process) or as readily adaptable to training if prepared by someone outside the organization. The use of a consultant also negates interaction between the agency and the commUnity. Both OES and the County have a list of consultants who might prepare the plan and are willing to make these names available to us. Quoted costs for preparation of the basic plan only ranged from $6,000 to $10,000 and each annex from $2,500 to $5,000 plus depending on the level of assistance from staff. It was further suggested that if a consultant was the avenue which the Council chose to pursue, the consultant might be engaged to prepare a skeletal plan and staff tailor the detailed plan to meet the needs of our city. Ken Klemm from EOS has offered to assist staff in plan preparation as well as training. The initial training session, as proposed by Mr. Klemm, would provide staff with the desk top issue on which to commence development of the plan. As stated by Mr. Klemm, the real expertise lies with the City. Beside the plan itself, many other issues should be considered such as resource lists, staff and community training. Plans for the ultimate remodeling of the Civic Center Complex is to include and Emergency Operations Center (EOC). In the fiscal 1986-87 budget, Public Works budgeted $5,000 for emergency supplies, and an equal amount was budgeted in fiscal 1987-88. The 1986-87 were reappropriated in fiscal 1987-88 thus providing a budgeted fund for supplies to help sustain the agency in the event of an emergency. It must be realized that this is a meager budget again meeting the bare minimum as required for only supply inventory. The above discussion suggest some criteria which might be considered when making the decision regarding the City's level of participation in Emergency Services. 1. Engage a consultant to develop the entire plan and rehire the same consul- tant to prepare annual (or more frequent) plan updates and all staff and community training sessions. Please consider that this .option eliminates interaction between the agency and the community. 2. Engage a consultant to prepare a skeletal plan and have staff develop the detailed plan and updates and training as required. This will require more staff time than is currently available. 3. Become an EMA city, partially funded by the federal government and accepting all conditions attached to the funding and facing the uncertainty of whether funding will be available in the future. 4. Commit more staff time for Emergency Management with assistance from the State Office of Emergency Services. If Council should adopt this pro- posal, a detailed program for staffing and budget requirements will be devel- oped for Council's review. Bob Ledendecker Director of Public Works/City Engineer Administrative Assistant ~,_~/