City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: July 18, 2023
Agenda Item: 5.B
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Danny Alvarez, Fire Chief, Fire Department
Subject: Approval of 2022 Grant Acceptance for State Homeland Security Program (SHSP)
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Authorize the City Manager to accept a grant awarded in the amount of $185,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the 2022 State Homeland Security Grant Program to the Fire Department, and to accept all grant renewals.
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary documents to accept the grant, all grant renewals, and modifications.
3. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a first modification to Contractual Services Agreement #11339 in the amount of $185,000 with Fire Resources LLC, a California-based company, for Regional Training Officer services on behalf of the Los Angeles Area Fire Chiefs’ Association. This will result in a three-year amended agreement with a new total amount not to exceed $555,000.
4. Adopt a finding of categorical exemption pursuant to Section 15322 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines.
5. Authorize budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts & Budget Actions section of this report.
Summary
The Federal government annually allocates grant funding to enhance regional preparedness for disasters, emergencies, and other threats to homeland security. In grant year 2022, $185,000 was awarded to the Santa Monica Fire Department as a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSP) grant to fund a contractor to serve as the Los Angeles Fire Chiefs’ Association Regional Training Group’s Training Officer. Staff recommends that Council authorize acceptance of the 2 of 5
2022 SHSP grant funds and execution of a subrecipient agreement with the County of Los Angeles for a performance period of September 1, 2022, to May 31, 2025. The 2022 SHSP grant funds are administered by the County of Los Angeles on behalf of the Los Angeles-Long Beach Urban Area, which includes Santa Monica.
Discussion
The SHSP program focus is on enhancing regional preparedness and capabilities in major metropolitan areas. The Santa Monica Fire Department received funds to support the Fire Department’s core public safety mission as well as regional homeland security goals. The following are the ten major regional homeland security focus areas of the SHSP grant program, known as Investment Justifications (IJ):
lJ # 1: Strengthen Capabilities of the State Threat Assessment System; IJ # 2: Protect Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources; IJ # 3: Enhance Cybersecurity;
IJ # 4: Strengthen Emergency Communications Capabilities Through Planning, Governance, Technology and Equipment;
IJ # 5: Enhance Medical and Public Health Capabilities; IJ # 6: Preventing Violent Extremism Through Multi-Jurisdictional/InterJurisdictional Collaboration and Coordination; IJ # 7: Enhance Community Resilience, Including Partnerships With Volunteers and Community Based Organizations and Programs;
IJ # 8: Strengthen Information Sharing and Collaboration; IJ # 9: Enhance Multi-Jurisdictional/Inter-Jurisdictional All-Hazards Incident Planning, Response & Recovery Capabilities; and
IJ #10: Homeland Security Exercise, Evaluation and Training Programs The SHSP 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 SHSP grant is intended to assist participating jurisdictions in developing integrated regional systems for prevention, protection, response, and recovery from natural or man-made disasters.
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The 2022 SHSP program’s agreement was recently received by the City since it takes the County of Los Angeles and the State the first year of the performance period to determine the numerous regional projects before subrecipient agreements can be processed. The program will fund projects in 29 high-threat, high density areas selected by DHS. The County of Los Angeles is the region's grantor for the SHSP grant and allocates funds to the City of Santa Monica. A regional working group and approval authority, made up of SHSP stakeholders from throughout the Los Angeles-Long Beach Urban Area, are the governing bodies that determine which regional projects to submit to DHS for grant funding.
The SHSP grant program is 100% federally funded by DHS and managed through the State of California's Office of Emergency Services. There is no requirement of a local match. The City of Santa Monica has received over $20 million in federal homeland security grant funding since 2003. 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. These funds cannot be used for general purposes and must be specified at the time of application. Homeland security purchases must be pre-approved by the state and align with grant guidelines.
The Fire Department will use the 2022 SHSP grant funds to host the Los Angeles Area Fire Chief’s Association Training Officer contractor. The Training Officer’s contract with Fire Resources was awarded on November 15, 2022. On December 13, 2022, Council accepted the SHSP 2021 grant in the amount of $185,000 to fund the second year of Contract 11339. Staff is seeking to add an additional $185,000 from SHSP 2022 and extend the Fire Resources contract for one additional year. The Training Officer will coordinate the facilitation of regional training opportunities. The Training Officer also performs regional research, prepares reports, presentations, and briefings for the regions’ Fire Chiefs, executive and other fire service audiences on relevant fire service issues. Deploying these funds, as recommended by the Fire Department, helps ensure response readiness for incidents of national significance including, but not limited to acts of terrorism, natural disasters, public health threats and other large-scale incidents that pose a threat to public or first-responder safety. 4 of 5
Environmental Review
The acceptance and use of grant funds to fund a Training Officer is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under Section 15322 (Class 22 Educational or Training Programs) of the CEQA Guidelines. Section 15322 exempts projects that consists of the adoption, alteration, or termination of educational or training programs which involve no physical alteration in the area affected or which involve physical changes only in the interior of existing school or training structures.
Grant funding will be used to fund a training program, and therefore is exempt pursuant to Section 15322 of the CEQA guidelines.
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
11/15/2022 Award RFP to provide professional services to assist Los Angeles Area Fire Chief’s Association Regional Training Group Fire Service Training Officer hosted by Santa Monica Fire.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to accept a grant from the 2022 State Homeland Security Grant Program in the amount of $185,000 to fund LAAFCA’s Training Officer contract.
Staff seeks authority to approve funding from the Miscellaneous Grants Fund to increase the term and amount of Contract #11339 with Fire Resources LLC for LAAFCA Training Officer. The previous contract amount of $370,000 included funding from SHSP 2020 and 2021. The current SHSP 2022 grant amount of $185,000 is being added to the contract for a new grant amount of $555,000 and an extended term to thirty-six months.
FY 2023-24 Grant Budget Changes
Establish Revenue Budget Appropriate Funds
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Account Number Amount Account Number Amount
20190001.40429C $185,000 20190001.55517C $185,000
Professional Services Agreement Modification Request
Agreement #
Current
Authorized
Amount
FY 2023-24
Modified Request
Amount
Dept Account #
Total
Revised
Contract
Amount
11339 $370,000 $185,000 20190001.55517C $555,000
Prepared By: Deanna Kendall, Administrative Analyst
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Printout-5468-1007-M21875 Fire Resources December 2022 B. Printout-5424-1007-M21683 Award Fire Resources 11.15.22 C. 04 Fire Resources Oaks exp 9.27.23
D. Complete_with_DocuSign_02_PSA_Fire_Resources