HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-02-2015 C7 Amendment and Reinstatement of SLO Regional HAZMAT CooperativeCity of San Luis Obispo, Council Agenda Report, Meeting Date, Item Number
FROM: Garret Olson, Fire Chief
SUBJECT: CONTINUED FIRE DEPARTMENT PARTICIPATION IN REGIONAL
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS RESPONSE TEAM
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt a Resolution approving and authorizing the Mayor to execute an Amended and Restated
San Luis Obispo Regional Hazardous Materials Cooperative Agreement.
DISCUSSION
Background
The San Luis Obispo Regional Hazardous Materials Response Team (the Team) was established
in 1993 through a Cooperative Agreement (the Agreement) signed by the governing bodies of
the different fire agencies within the county. The creation of this specialized Team provides the
most effective use of the combined local resources and participating agencies. The primary
function of the Team is to respond and mitigate hazardous material emergencies.
Operationally, and upon notification of an incident involving hazardous materials, three team
members respond to the incident as an Assessment Team. Based upon their observations, the
Assessment Team makes recommendations to the Incident Commander to upgrade or downgrade
the incident in terms of additional hazardous materials personnel and resources required for safe
incident mitigation. The Team is responsible for responding to incidents throughout the county
and depending on the situation can take action to assess or mitigate threats. All Team members
are employees of agencies belonging to the Cooperative Agreement (Fire, Corrections,
Environmental Health, and others) and who have volunteered to serve on the Team. The fire
service provides the greatest number of Team members and administrative support. The Team is
composed of dedicated members with a history of success, and receives strong support from
member agencies. Member agencies are not charged an addition fee for responses to their
community or jurisdiction.
Managed through a Board of Directors, the Team has been funded through an annual assessment
of $1,000 charged to each member agency, 16 agencies in total. The total annual operating
budget for the Team has remained unchanged for over 22 years. The Team has benefited from
significant grant funding to provide the initial training and equipment needs necessary to begin
safe operations. Grant funding has become less available for the types of expenses necessary to
maintain and replace specialty equipment, including disposable and durable goods. Many of the
specialized gas and chemical detectors essential to the Team’s operations are nearing the end of
their usable lifespan. Additionally, the cost of maintenance and replacement of these goods has
increased over the last 22 years as well as the increased complexity of the nature of hazardous
materials response requirements.
June 2, 2015
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Regional Hazardous Materials Team Participation Page 2
The new cooperative Agreement provides for sustainability of operations for this regional
response time. Additionally, the new Agreement varies the contribution of participating agencies
from a low of $2,000 to a high of $10,000. The City of San Luis Obispo has been assessed a
$5,000 annual contribution based on our size and designation. The annual contribution of
participating agencies is based on creating long-term sustainability of services, including the
need to replace specialized meters and protective equipment. The City of San Luis Obispo, as
well as all participating agencies, have the benefit of realizing the value of pooling resources and
trained personnel. In many regions, individual communities maintain and fund similar Teams
without cost sharing relationships.
CONCURRENCES
The Police Department concurs with the recommendations made in this report.
FISCAL IMPACT
The annual contribution by the City for a continued cooperative agreement with our County
partners would increase from $1,000 to $5,000. This increase has already been accounted for in
the FY 2015-2017 Financial Plan in the event that Council approves this request.
ALTERNATIVES
1. a) Dissolve the Joint Powers Agreement and create a Joint Powers Authority, b) utilize a
new tax base of the established Authority to provide sustainable and reliable funding, and
c) create an effective operational and administrative leadership structure for the Team.
While this would create sustainable funding, it would also result in the creation of an
additional taxing authority, the cost of carrying out this option would be substantial.
2. a) Dissolve the Team and assign all responsibility for hazardous materials response to the
County, with voluntary participation by local fire departments, b) create an effective
operational and administrative leadership structure for the Team, under the sole authority
of County Fire, and c) require County to fund under one agency. Under this alternative
the City would need to invest substantially greater funds to maintain the same level of
response.
3. a) Dissolve the Team, and return all hazardous materials responsibilities to the local fire
agencies and County Environmental Health, b) all funding would be the responsibility of
each individual agency, and c) all operational and administrative structures would be the
responsibility of each individual agency, with ICS governing unified operations. Under
this alternative the City would need to invest substantially greater funds to maintain the
same level of response.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Resolution approving the Amended and Restated Cooperative Agreement
2. Amendment and Restatement of SLO Regional Hazardous Materials Cooperative Agreement
\\chstore7\team\council agenda reports\2015\2015-06-02\hazmat team amendment and extension (olson)\car hazardous materials team amendment and extension.docx
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ATTACHMENT 1
RESOLUTION NO. ______ (2015 Series)
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO,
CALIFORNIA
APPROVING THE AMENDED AND RESTATED SAN LUIS OBISPO REGIONAL
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT
WHEREAS, each of the following public agencies, County of San Luis Obispo, City of
Arroyo Grande, City of Atascadero, City of Grover Beach, City of Morro Bay, City of Paso
Robles, City of Pismo Beach, City of San Luis Obispo, County of San Luis Obispo Special
Service Districts; Los Osos, Avila Beach, Cambria, Cayucos, Oceano, San Miguel, Santa
Margarita, and Templeton, California Department of Corrections (California Men’s Colony State
Prison), California Department of State Hospitals (Atascadero State Hospital), California
Military Department (California Army National Guard, Camp Roberts), and California State
University (California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo), (hereinafter, “Public
Agencies" or “Parties”), is at risk of a hazardous materials release or incident from the threatened
release of hazardous materials which is transported along the major highways, railroads, and
petroleum pipelines in the County or is stored within the County for local use; and
WHEREAS, many of the Public Agencies participate in the California Master Mutual
Aid Agreement and the San Luis Obispo County Fire Services Mutual Aid Operation Plan, and
such plans provides for mutual aid response to hazardous materials emergencies; and
WHEREAS, each of the Public Agencies provides the necessary public funds for the
protection of life and property against the releases or incidents involving hazardous materials;
and
WHEREAS, the creation of a specialized team (“Team”) of personnel to respond to
hazardous material emergencies or potential emergencies in the City of San Luis Obispo would
provide the most effective use of the combined local resources and would benefit each of the
Public Agencies; and
WHEREAS, consistent with Government Code Section 6502.7, each of the Public
Agencies has authority to respond to hazardous materials emergencies and to operate and
maintain equipment for hazardous materials response; and
WHEREAS, the Public Agencies are authorized to contract with each other for the joint
exercise of any common power pursuant to Article I Chapter 5, Division 7, of Title 1 of the
Government Code of the State of California; and
WHEREAS, a Cooperative Agreement (“Agreement”) was entered into between the
Parties on December 31, 1993; and
WHEREAS, the Parties now desire to amend and restate the Agreement in its entirety.
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RESOLUTION NO. _____
PAGE 2
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that City Council hereby adopts approves
and authorizes the Mayor to execute the Amended and Restated San Luis Obispo Regional
Hazardous Materials Cooperative Agreement attached hereto as Exhibit A.
On motion of _______________, seconded by _______________, and on the following roll call
vote, to wit:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
the foregoing Resolution was passed and adopted this _____ day of ________________, 2015.
Jan Marx, Mayor
ATTEST:
Anthony Mejia, City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
J. Christine Dietrick, City Attorney
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Attachment 2
AMENDMENT AND RESTATEMENT
SAN LUIS OBISPO
REGIONAL HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT
WHEREAS, each of the following public agencies, City of Arroyo Grande, City of Atascadero, City
of Grover Beach, City of Morro Bay, City of Paso Robles, City of Pismo Beach, City of San Luis
Obispo, County of San Luis Obispo, Special Service Districts: Los Osos, Avila Beach, Cambria,
Cayucos, Oceano, San Miguel, Santa Margarita, and Templeton, California Department of
Corrections (California Men's Colony State Prison), California Department of State Hospitals
(Atascadero State Hospital), California Military Department (California Army National Guard,
Camp Roberts), and California State University (California Polytechnic State University San Luis
Obispo) (hereinafter, "Public Agencies" or "Parties"), is at risk of a hazardous materials release
or incident from the release of hazardous materials which are transported along the major
highways, railroads, and petroleum pipelines in the County or are stored within the County for
local use; and
WHEREAS, many of the Public Agencies participate in the California Master Mutual Aid
Agreement and the San Luis Obispo County Fire Services Mutual Aid Operation Plan, and such
plans provide for mutual aid response to hazardous materials emergencies; and
WHEREAS, each of the Public Agencies provides the necessary public funds for the protection of
life and property against releases or incidents involving hazardous materials; and
WHEREAS, the creation of a specialized team ("Team") of personnel to respond to hazardous
material emergencies or potential emergencies in the County of San Luis Obispo would provide
the most effective use of the combined local resources and would benefit each of the Public
Agencies; and
WHEREAS, consistent with Government Code section 6502.7, each of the Public Agencies has
authority to respond to hazardous materials emergencies and to operate and maintain
equipment for hazardous materials response; and
WHEREAS, the Public Agencies are authorized to contract with each other for the joint exercise
of any common power pursuant to Article I Chapter 5, Division 7, of Title 1 of the Government
Code of the State of California; and
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Attachment 2
WHEREAS, a COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT was entered into between the Parties on October 4,
1993 ("Agreement"); and
WHERAS, the Parties now desire to amend and restate the Agreement in its entirety.
NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements contained herein,
the Parties hereby agree, amend and restate the Agreement in its entirety as follows:
1. PURPOSE OF AGREEMENT, COMMON POWER TO BE EXERCISED
As a supplement to the San Luis Obispo County Fire Services Mutual Aid Operation Plan,
the Parties enter this Agreement for the purpose of providing for the creation and
establishment of a Regional Hazardous Materials Response Team (hereinafter "Team").
The Team shall carry out the abatement and emergency control of hazardous conditions
and stabilize the same, until these conditions can be turned over to the appropriate
authority, for further disposal.
2. NO ENTITY SEPARATE AND APART FROM THE PARTY ENTITIES
The Parties agree that the purpose of this Agreement may be accomplished without
creating an entity separate and apart from the Parties; therefore, the Parties expressly
decline to create an entity separate and apart from the Parties to this Agreement.
3. MEMBERSHIP OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
A Regional Hazardous Material Response Team Board of Directors (hereinafter "Board")
shall be established to oversee the operation of the Team, establish Team policies and
procedures in accordance with the Purpose of this Agreement, and manage the Team's
finances and property utilized by the Team. The Board shall consist of six voting
members selected by the following procedure:
A. There shall be three standing members on the Board:
(1) The Fire Chief of the City of San Luis Obispo;
(2) The Fire Chief of San Luis Obispo County; and
(3) A representative of the County's Environmental Health Department.
B. There shall be one member representing each of the following three geographic
areas:
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Attachment 2
(1) North County, which includes San Miguel, Paso Robles, Templeton,
Atascadero, Santa Margarita, Atascadero State Hospital and Camp
Roberts;
(2) South County, which includes Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach, Grover
Beach, Avila Beach, and Oceano; and
(3) Coastal, which includes Morro Bay, Cambria, South Bay, Cayucos,
California Men's Colony, and Cal Poly.
Each of these members shall be a Fire Chief elected by the Fire Chiefs of the
communities that are represented by that area. Each electee shall serve a term of two
years. He or she may be re-elected for an unlimited number of terms.
4. BOARD MEETINGS
The Board shall establish the time and place for its meetings and shall hold at least one
annual meeting. A special meeting may be called by the Chairperson, or upon demand
of two-thirds of the six members of the Board, by noticing each Board member at least
48 hours before the time of such meeting. The notice shall specify the time and place of
the meeting and the business to be transacted. All meetings of the Board shall be open
to the public, except for those sessions which may by law be closed. The Board shall
cause its Secretary/Treasurer to maintain minutes of open meetings, which shall be
public documents available for inspection at the County of San Luis Obispo Office of
Emergency Services at all times during regular business hours of San Luis Obispo County.
No compensation shall be received by any member of the Board for his or her services.
No business shall be transacted without the presence of a quorum of the Board. A
quorum shall consist of four or more Board members. A majority vote of the quorum
shall be required to transact business
5. BOARD OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES
The Board shall elect officers, by majority vote, to serve as Chairperson and Vice
Chairperson. The Secretary/Treasurer shall be a non-voting member of the Board and
shall be a member of the County of San Luis Obispo Office of Emergency Services.
The Board will employ a "Business Manager" under their direction to handle Team
business such as maintaining records, recording meetings on behalf of the
Secretary/Treasurer, preparing staff reports, preparing a budget for approval by the
Board and other business matters requested by the Board. The Business Manager may
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Attachment 2
be paid a monthly salary. The Business Manager will not have any oversight of the
Team's emergency response activities.
The Board will also select a Team Leader, who will be a full-time employee of a Member
Agency from the parties of this agreement and who will complete his/her Team Leader
roles while on-duty and at no additional cost to his/her agency or to the Team. The
position will be rotated every two years among Member Agencies in order to share the
workload. The Team Leader will:
• Manage operational and training programs.
• Coordinate the efforts of Member Agencies and Team Members.
• Function as the Team's primary technical expert and advise the Board of
Directors accordingly.
• Oversee committees for Training, Policy, Equipment/IT, and Marketing and for
other programs. Responsible for developing and maintaining Standard Operating
Guidelines (SOG's), determining equipment needs, and taking on related tasks.
• Provide leadership to the Team, so that the Team can achieve the goals and
objectives established by the Board and ensure the safe and successful
mitigation of hazardous materials incidents to which the Team responds.
• Serve as the official representative of the Team to the public, news media, and
other governmental agencies.
• Delegate these duties to other Team Members or employees of Member
Agencies, when deemed appropriate by the Team Leader.
6. FINANCING
Use of the equipment, materials, and facilities of the Parties shall be in accordance with
rules and regulations approved by the Board. The Board shall prepare an annual fiscal
year budget for the needs of the Team. The Board shall maintain an equipment
replacement/contingency fund for the continued operation of the Team. The
Secretary/Treasurer shall bill each of the Parties annually or at more convenient
intervals determined by the Secretary/Treasurer. All funds shall be deposited into a
separate account to be maintained as the Regional Hazardous Materials Response Team
Account (hereinafter "Account"). The Board shall have access to the Account upon
signature of any two Board members. In the event any Party fails to contribute its equal
share of the budget, as determined by the Secretary/Treasurer, such Party may be
terminated from participation on or assistance by the Team by a majority vote of the
Board.
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Attachment 2
A. Any excess in federal, state, or local funds in the Account at the end of any fiscal
year shall be transferred to the next fiscal year's budget.
B. During the first year, a fund shall be established by the Board and funded by
each of the Parties contributing an amount to the Account as designated in the
following table:
Parties Amount to Contribute
First Year
Total First Year
County (1) $10,000 $10,000
Cities (7) $ 5,000 $35,000
Special Districts and
other agencies (12)
$ 2,000 $24,000
$69,000
C. During each successive budget year the Board may through a majority vote
increase the contribution amount to the fund by a percentage not to exceed the
previous year's Consumer- Price Index (CPI) for the Los Angeles Region.
D. Upon majority approval of the Board, the fund may be expended for the
purchase of equipment, training needs, equipment repair, and other expenses
determined necessary by the Board.
E. Funds shall not be budgeted for or disbursed from the Account in a manner
which creates a deficit at any time.
7. AMENDMENT OF AGREEMENT
The Board by a 2/3 majority vote may amend, delete or add additional sections to this
Agreement except that any changes to the financial contributions by member Parties
must comply with section 6C of this Agreement.
8. TERMINATION OF AGREEMENT
This Agreement shall remain in full force and effect until such time as a majority of the
Board shall vote to terminate this Agreement and each of such majority Board
member's Public Agency ratifies his or her vote. Each Party may individually terminate
its involvement in this Agreement, and thereby withdraw from participation on or
assistance by the Team, by providing 90 days written notice of termination to anyone of
the members of the Board. A party individually terminating involvement in this
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Attachment 2
Agreement shall not be entitled to any refund of funds previously paid to the Account.
In the event this Agreement is terminated by a majority vote of the Board ratified by the
majority's Public Agencies, the following shall occur:
A. All equipment and/or material donated by any agency for use by the Team shall
be returned to the agency without compensation for either ordinary wear and
tear, or replacement.
B. All property utilized exclusively by the Team shall be sold at fair market value
and the funds received shall be deposited in the Account.
C. The Secretary/Treasurer shall pay any outstanding accounts, invoices, and Board-
approved claims from the Account.
D. Any grant monies which have not been expended shall be returned to the
grantor.
E. The Account shall be disbursed proportionally to those Public Agencies which
participated in this Agreement at the time of the Board's majority vote for
termination.
9. REPORTS
The Secretary/Treasurer shall maintain the financial records of the Team in an accurate
and organized manner at all times and shall reconcile the Account on a monthly basis.
The Secretary/Treasurer shall prepare, or cause to be prepared an annual fiscal year
report. This shall include the yearly budget; the amount, date, and source of all
receipts; the amount, date, recipient, and purpose of all disbursements; the Account
balance at the beginning of the fiscal year; the Account balance at the end of the fiscal
year; and an inventory of all equipment and material owned by the Team. A copy of the
annual report shall be distributed to each Party within thirty days of the end of the fiscal
year. The Secretary/Treasurer shall furnish such other reports and data as may from
time to time be requested by the Board. All financial records shall be available for
inspection by an authorized representative of each Party upon written request and by
arrangement with the Secretary/Treasurer or other members of the Board.
10. TEAM SUPPORT AND PARTICIPATION
Each of the Parties agrees to support the Team in the following areas:
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Attachment 2
A. TRAINING
The Parties shall provide persons to attend various levels of training of the Team
and continuing education requirements consistent with Government Code
section 8574.19 et seq. and other applicable laws, regulations, and Team
standards set forth for operations. Each Party shall host and support training
activities.
B. STAFFING
The Parties shall provide persons to participate as members of the Team for
response to incidents or to support the Team's response.
C. INSURANCE
Each of the Parties shall provide Worker's Compensation Insurance for its fire
persons while such persons are involved with the Team. Government Code
sections 50925 et seq. (Extraterritorial Activities of Firemen) and other
applicable Worker's Compensation, liability, and/or benefits laws are
incorporated into this Agreement by reference.
D. EQUIPMENT
Each Party shall support the Team with resources whenever possible and with
regard to other Team Members be responsible for any damage or loss to such
party's resources which occurs while being used pursuant to this Agreement.
E. MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS
Medical examinations for each Party's Team members shall be provided by that
Public Agency (pursuant to CFR 1910.120 et seq.) The Parties will work
cooperatively to secure the most cost-effective approach to medical
examinations.
F. COMPENSATION TO THE PARTIES
The Parties agree that their participation in this agreement is without regard to
any reimbursement or compensation, and further agree as follows:
• The Team will actively pursue grants and donations to reduce financial
dependence on participating Public Agencies.
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Attachment 2
• The Parties will fully support the Team and, when possible, assign their
employee(s) to serve as Team Members regardless of receiving any
reimbursements or compensation.
• Obtaining reimbursement for services provided by the Team is a high
priority, and that it is the responsibility of the Agency Having Jurisdiction
(AHJ) to pursue such reimbursements from persons or entities
responsible for hazardous materials incidents.
• When the AHJ is a Party to this agreement, any reimbursements received
by the AHJ for an incident to which the Team responds will be equitably
distributed among those Parties who have actually incurred costs related
to the incident.
o When such reimbursement is received, the Party who is the AHJ
will notify the Business Manager and the Secretary/Treasurer of
the reimbursement amount, incident name and incident number.
o The Business Manager will, within seven days, notify all Parties of
the reimbursement and ask the Parties to submit reimbursement
requests to the Business Manager.
o Parties wishing to be reimbursed must provide a letter requesting
reimbursement within 30 days of the notification by the Business
Manager, and must include documentation of costs.
o If the Team itself incurred any costs on the incident, the Business
Manager will submit a reimbursement request on behalf of the
Team, according to the same requirements listed above.
o After 30 days have elapsed, the Business Manager will consolidate
requests received into a reimbursement plan, which will equitably
distribute the reimbursement among the Parties, and will present
the reimbursement plan at the next Board of Directors meeting
for approval.
o If the reimbursement received is less that the total of all
reimbursement requests, each Party will receive a proportionate
share of the reimbursement based on their proportion of the total
of all reimbursement requests received.
o If the reimbursement received is more than the total of all
reimbursement requests, each Party shall be fully reimbursed and
the balance of the reimbursement will be paid to the Team itself
for future use as determined by the Board of Directors.
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Attachment 2
11. NON-PARTICIPATION
Any Public Agency named in the first "WHEREAS" Clause of this Agreement that chooses
not to sign the Agreement can avail itself of the Team's services; however, that Public
Agency must pay all costs of such Team services as "Assistance for Hire" at the rates
determined by the Board.
12. COUNTERPARTS
This Agreement may be signed in counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an
original, but all of which together shall constitute the same Agreement.
13. EXECUTION
Each Public Agency that signs this Agreement shall promptly notify the County of San
Luis Obispo Office of Emergency Services and shall simultaneously forward to such office
an executed copy of its Counterpart Signature Page of this Agreement by hand-delivery
to such office. Every Public Agency desiring to participate in this Agreement must submit
its executed copy of its Counterpart Signature Page to the County of San Luis Obispo
Office of Emergency Services prior to July 1, 2015.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties have caused this Agreement to be executed by their
respective authorized officers. This Agreement is deemed to be signed and executed as of the
last date a Public Agency executed this Agreement which is the _____ day of
________________, 2015.
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Attachment 2
Page 9 of 10
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
By: _____________________________
Jan Marx, Mayor
ATTEST:
Anthony Mejia, City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
J. Christine Dietrick, City Attorney
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Attachment 2
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Approved by the Board of Supervisors on
___________________, 2015
ATTEST:
________________________________
Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGAL EFFECT:
RITA L. NEAL
County Counsel
By: ______________________
Chief Deputy County Counsel
Date: _______________________
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