DEPARTMENT: SAFD
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Charles N. Hood
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City Wide
SUBJECT:
Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program
SUMMARY:
This ordinance authorizes the City of San Antonio Office of Emergency Management (SAOEM) to apply for, accept, and appropriate, upon award, in the amount of $697,060 from the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program (RCPGP). As a condition of this award, the City is required to contribute an in-kind match in the amount of $174,265 of non-Federal funds, or 20 percent of the total approved project costs of $871,325. This Ordinance also authorizes a Personnel complement of 1 position.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Act, 2020 (Pub. L. No. 116-93), provides funding to close known capability gaps, encourage innovative regional solutions to issues related to catastrophic incidents, and build on existing regional preparedness efforts. FEMA added regional pandemic preparedness as a program objective this year, with a specific focus on addressing the Community Lifelines and Core Capabilities that are essential to pandemic preparedness. In addition, recognizing the value of all-hazards emergency preparedness planning and consistent with the objectives of the prior FY 2019 RCPGP, applicants were also permitted to consider projects that improve capability levels in the Food, Water, and Sheltering Community Lifeline as measured in the Housing or Logistics and Supply Chain Management core capabilities.
Through regional collaboration, the RCPGP supports the development and delivery of projects that address Community Lifelines, which are critical to managing catastrophic incidents. Stabilizing and restoring lifelines in catastrophes require solutions that go beyond scaling up existing plans and capabilities to maximize the creative power of cross-sector coordination while respecting the roles of private sector partners and agency authorities at all levels of government.
Last year, only the Texas cities to receive an award were Dallas and Houston. Understanding the important role the City of San Antonio during Texas catastrophic disasters, the cities of Dallas and Houston submitted a letter of support to FEMA recommending San Antonio receive this award so that the state as a whole could be better prepared for catastrophic disasters. This grant award has a 3-year performance period and can only fund salaries and consultant costs to support the City’s planning efforts. The performance period is September 1, 2020 to August 31, 2023.
ISSUE:
This ordinance authorizes the City of San Antonio Office of Emergency Management to apply and accept upon award up to $697,060 from the 2020 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program. As a condition of this award, the City is required to contribute an in-kind match in the amount of $174,265 of non-Federal funds, or 20 percent of the total approved project costs of $871,325. This ordinance also authorizes personnel complement of 1 position to manage and implement this grant for three years.
ALTERNATIVES:
The alternative is not to accept this grant award and continue planning with current resources.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This ordinance authorizes the City of San Antonio Office of Emergency Management (SAOEM) to apply for, accept, and appropriate, upon award, in the amount of $697,060 from the FY 2020 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program. As a condition of this award, the City is required to contribute an in-kind match in the amount of $174,265 of non-Federal funds, or 20 percent of the total approved project costs of $871,325. This Ordinance also authorizes a Personnel complement of 1 position.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of this ordinance to apply for and accept grant funds from the FY 2020 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program, appropriate funds upon award, and authorizing the Mayor, or designee, or the City Emergency Manager to execute any and all necessary documents to effectuate this grant. Staff also recommends approval of the personnel complement of 1 new position to manage and implement this grant for three years.