TO: City Council

FROM: Chief Ernie Bakin

THROUGH: City Manager Robert S. LaSala

Outcomes, Programs, Activities, SDPs, and Structure

This report provides Council with several alternatives for the operation of the City Office of Emergency Services (formerly the Emergency Preparedness Unit) for FY 03/04, beginning July 2003.

Changing demands of the market and pressing issues and priorities demanding the resources and attention of staff precipitated the reexamination of OES priorities, staffing, budget and outcomes at Council’s request.

Staff’s recommendation provides the greatest opportunity to build on our strong and valued community outreach program - Sunnyvale Neighborhoods Actively Prepare (SNAP), provide frequent and necessary planning assistance and training to City staff, and maintain critical relationships with professional organizations and colleagues. Attending to - and focusing on - these three priorities will serve to maximize the community’s and the City’s ability to respond to, and recover from, any significantly taxing event.

Fiscal Impact varies according to the alternative selected by Council.

Alternative One - No fiscal impact.

Alternative Two - Unknown fiscal impact.

Alternative Three - Annual Savings of $153,931.60

Alternative Four - Annual Savings of $287,456.71

Staff recommends adoption of Alternative Two - Replaces the current Public Safety Lieutenant with a civilian Certified Emergency Manager.

A. OES Report for Council dated 9/17/2002.

B. OES Report for Council dated 10/22/2002.

This report provides Council with several alternatives for the operation of the City Office of Emergency Services (formerly the Emergency Preparedness Unit) beginning July 2003. Presentations to Council in September and October 2002 (attached) provided a historical chronicle of the origins of the Emergency Preparedness Unit, its initial implementation, early progress and subsequent changes.

Since its inception in 1984, the City’s Office of Emergency Services has become well known in both the community and the industry for its commitment to Emergency Management and its many innovative programs.

Changing demands of the market, and pressing issues and priorities demanding the resources and attention of DPS staff precipitated the reallocation of staff resources in past years. While staffing changes were completed, parallel changes in outcome measures were not. Both Council and OES staff requested this reexamination of OES priorities, staffing, budget and outcomes.

The effort was aided by a performance audit of the OES program for FY 01/02. The audit, conducted by the Finance Department, produced forty two recommendations for changes in outcome measures, activity/product definition and documentation procedures - largely because the existing program outcome measures, SDPs, and activities no longer reflect current budget and staffing levels, practice or state of the art in the provision of emergency preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery services. Some of the audit recommendations had been addressed by OES staff prior to the release of the audit report. The remainder of the recommendations will be integrated into the practices of OES through the adoption of new outcome measures, activity/product definitions and documentation procedures consistent with the priorities set and resources allocated by Council’s action on this report.

Sunnyvale Municipal Code, Chapter 2.16 requires the city to develop and maintain an emergency plan.

The City of Sunnyvale's Seismic Safety and Safety Sub-Element establishes goals, policies and actions designed to promote a safe community. The premise that the community will be on its own during and after a major disaster which generates multi-jurisdictional implications underlies the importance of the City taking measures to assist the community in self-reliance and self-sufficiency efforts.

Seismic Safety Sub-Element Goal B directs the Emergency Preparedness Unit (now OES) to ensure that the City, its citizens, and its businesses and industries are prepared to effectively respond to major emergencies.

The following discussion of Office of Emergency Services (OES) programs provides an overview of each concept as well as current OES activities. An understanding of these programs is necessary to prioritize activities within the context of current fiscal realities.

The purpose of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is to make available private citizens, who have completed a course of instruction that provides them with basic emergency response skills, to respond to their community's immediate needs in the aftermath of a disaster. By working together with City personnel and other volunteers, CERT can assist in saving lives and protecting property.

As you are aware, SNAP is Sunnyvale’s equivalent to the CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) that President Bush has spoken about in the context of the Citizen Corps. The President asked citizens to protect their families and make their neighborhoods safer by volunteering their services.

During FY 01/02, OES staff met with a SNAP Revitalization Committee to revise the SNAP Program. The committee is composed of past SNAP captains and co-captains and interested members of the community. The committee redesigned the entire program to prepare and train Sunnyvale residents to cope with any disaster (SNAP previously focused solely on earthquakes.) They continue to work with staff in the administration and ongoing evaluation and revision of the program. The comprehensive SNAP training program covers Disaster Preparedness, Fire Safety and Suppression, Incident Command System, Basic First Aid/Adult CPR, Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (S.T.A.R.T. Triage), Terrorism and Damage Assessment and Light Search and Rescue.

The new SNAP program has been a great success, garnering praise from former SNAP captains/co-captains, Leadership Sunnyvale participants, Community Academy participants and Neighborhood Association presidents. Members of these groups of community activists are now involved as our partners in promoting and rebuilding the SNAP program. Since the rollout of the revised program in June of 2002, each of the training classes has been full - with waiting lists. Participants who complete the entire program receive an identification vest and a backpack containing basic disaster response supplies, and are certified as Disaster Service Workers (DSW) for the City.

City staff has a significant coordination and support role in this City-sponsored program. Currently, the CSO assigned to OES spends approx. 80% of her time administering this program. The program’s direct costs are approx. $150 per participant. Each participant receives 30 hours of training. With the exception of the Basic First Aid & Adult CPR training, there is no cost to participants. Participants in the Basic First Aid & Adult CPR training class pay a nominal fee of $25.50 to the American Red Cross for training supplies and books.

Since June 2002, SNAP has trained 134 citizens, including 87 community members certified as Disaster Service Workers under the new program. 25 participants have received training in three or more of the subject areas, but have not completed the entire program. The remaining 22 participants have completed two or fewer classes. There are 32 participants currently enrolled in the SNAP Spring Training Series (April - May, 2003).

The Sunnyvale Amateur Radio Emergency Service (SARES) is made up of FCC-licensed radio amateurs who have registered their capabilities and equipment for public service. They serve without compensation of any kind. SARES is directed by its own members as part of the American Radio Relay League's (ARRL) field organization. SARES includes a wide range of members -- from high school students to retirees.

SARES members furnish backup communications in the event of an emergency or disaster when regular communication channels are disrupted or overloaded. Also, SARES members are involved in communications for special events such as: exercises, parades, festivals, races, and Field Days.

SARES works closely with other Amateur Radio Operator Groups within the coverage area of the Southern Peninsula Emergency Communications System (SPECS) and the Silicon Valley Emergency Communications System (SVECS). SARES also cooperates with surrounding communities as a part of the larger metropolitan area.

SARES is a City co-sponsored organization and requires staff time in administration, coordination and support. OES staff are actively engaged in supporting this organization.

To provide for the care and shelter needs of the community in a disaster the City of Sunnyvale, the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross (ARC) and the four school districts with school sites in the City (Santa Clara Unified School District, Cupertino Union School District, Sunnyvale School District, and the Fremont Union High School District) entered into a cooperative Memorandum of Understanding for establishing permanent, equipped and immediately operational disaster shelter sites in Sunnyvale, each capable of caring for 300 people. There are eight such sites currently established in the City (Bishop Elementary School, Lakewood Elementary School, Columbia Middle School, Peterson Middle School, Cupertino Junior High School, Ponderosa Elementary School, Fremont High School, and Sunnyvale Middle School).

The establishment of the ARKs was achieved through capital project funding at a cost to the City of $208,000. Equipment and supplies were purchased with these funds. There is no ongoing funding for the ARK program within the current budget.

OES staff currently maintain the ARK to ensure the readiness of pre-designated shelter sites in the event of a disaster. Primary activities in this area include annual water changes and inspection of ARK inventory. As the inventory is used or aged, the City will incur some currently unbudgeted replacement cost for the containers and supplies.

OES provides training to City staff on issues of mitigation, emergency preparedness, response and recovery. These issues encompass a breadth of topics. Recent topics have included mail handling, 9-1-1 systems, spring preparedness (in conjunction with the time change), Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) threat levels, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

This task also includes training assistance and citywide exercises for the City’s Emergency Management Organization (EMO).

OES provides emergency planning assistance to other City departments on an as needed or as requested basis. All City departments are required to have emergency and evacuation plans. Department directors are required to exercise them on an annual basis. These plans have been in place for a number of years and remain relatively static.

OES staff maintain professional relationships and expertise, and represent City interests through membership and active participation in a number of local and regional associations. These include the Santa Clara County Emergency Managers Association (SCCEMA), the California Emergency Services Association (CESA), San Jose State University’s Collaborative for Disaster Mitigation (CDM), the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), and the Mutual Aid Regional Advisory Committee (MARAC). OES staff also serve as Inter-governmental Relations (IGR) advisors to Council for members of the Santa Clara County Emergency Preparedness Council (EPC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) Earthquake & Transportation Committee.

OES conducts annual non-structural hazard inspections of all city-owned facilities in cooperation with inspectors from several other City departments. Inspection of the 21 facilities is coordinated by Risk & Insurance.

OES provides emergency preparedness support to schools under Budget Activity Code 452010. The FY 02/03 budget allocates 317 hours of staff time to the provision of school emergency preparedness programs. The existing outcome measure requires OES to ‘offer’ Emergency preparedness information to all Sunnyvale schools annually. There are currently 27 schools in Sunnyvale (both public and private, K-12).

In the last several years, the State of California has enacted a number of laws and regulations which require schools to specifically address these issues (ex. Education Code sections 35294.2, 35295, 35296, 35297). As a result, most schools have established emergency plans, trained all district employees, and conducted semi-annual exercises and/or drills. In addition, a number of model school emergency plans that are easily adaptable to most school and district operations are readily available. This has significantly reduced schools’ reliance on the City as the sole source of services, information and coordination.

For the last several years OES has offered information to all schools and districts and has provided direct emergency preparedness consultation and participation to schools that requested assistance after it was offered. The number of requests received for this type of assistance remains very low.

OES provides commercial emergency preparedness support under Budget Activity Code 452020. The FY 02/03 budget allocates 317 hours of staff time to the provision of commercial emergency preparedness programs. Existing outcome measures deal only with the Sunnyvale Emergency Preparedness Organization (SEPO), which has not existed for a number of years (see prior council reports).

Shortly after September 11, 2001, the Public Safety Department undertook a study of the state of security and preparedness at identified large businesses in the City. That study showed that these businesses were largely prepared with adequate security and emergency response capability through their mandated Emergency Response Teams (ERT). Follow-up visits included site-specific recommendations, many of which have been implemented. Most of these businesses had full-time staff assigned to these duties as a part of their primary function.

OES recognizes that it is the small and mid-sized businesses that often have no emergency plan or even basic awareness of emergency preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery principles. For the second consecutive year, OES partnered with our Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) environmental compliance program in a business seminar. At this year’s seminar OES staff provided training on basic awareness of emergency planning issues and a list of referrals for further assistance to 63 participants, representing 41 companies. Staff individually assists other businesses in response to requests.

OES staff gather, document and report on progress toward outcome measure attainment on an Accounting Period and trimester basis. Staff assists in audits and responds to inquiries from DPS staff, City staff from other departments and Council.

OES typically leads the City effort to track and secure appropriate federal grant funding for City programs. Recent examples are the annual Emergency Management Performance Grants (EMPG) through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) - now part of the Department of Homeland Defense (DHS), and the State Domestic Preparedness Grants through the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). Staff anticipates that as more and larger amounts of grant money are made available to local government through DHS, the need for this type of coordination will increase.

When the City experiences a qualifying disaster, OES staff will provide assistance to other City staff and coordination with granting agencies to maximize the City’s recovery of disaster-related expenses.

OES conducts its activities under Program 452 - Emergency Preparedness. The FY 02/03 budget for the program is $384,220.85 (excluding allocations). The program budget supports a full-time Public Safety Lieutenant (PS Lt.), a full-time Community Service Officer - Emergency Planner (CSO), and a half-time Staff Office Assistant (SOA) (shared with Animal Control) at a cost of $261,797.52, provides $25,659.19 for Direct Expenses and $96,764.14 in Internal Service Charges.

Alternative One leaves the current structure and allocated resources in place, and proposes realignment of outcome measures, activity/product definitions and documentation procedures consistent with identified priorities, existing resources, and current practice. [No fiscal impact]

Alternative Two maintains staffing at two and one half personnel, but replaces the current Public Safety Lieutenant with a civilian Certified Emergency Manager. It also proposes realignment of outcome measures, activity/product definitions and documentation procedures consistent with identified priorities, existing resources, and current practice. [Savings unknown (the difference in salary and benefits of a PS Lt. and a civilian Certified Emergency Manager)]

Alternative Three cuts staffing by one full-time position to a single CSO and half-time Staff Office Assistant (SOA). It proposes revision of outcome measures, activity/product definitions and documentation procedures consistent with those resources. Adoption of Alternative Three would eliminate current commercial and school services. Alternative Three proposes an increase in Direct Expenses of $18,750 to be used for hiring the services of contract Emergency Management professionals to plan, conduct and evaluate an annual disaster exercise, as well as to train City staff in various Emergency Management practices (approx. 250 hours/year). The additional financial allocation will provide for a scaled-back, but continuing training and exercise program for City EMO staff. [Savings of $153,931.60 (the difference in salary and benefits + the increased direct expense)]

Alternative Four discontinues the 452 program in its entirety. [Savings of $287,456.71 (total program budget less Internal Service Charges and allocations)]

Another item of note with regard to fiscal impact is that of federal Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) funding. Emergency management efforts in the city have historically been partially offset through an EMPG grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). From 1990 through 1997, the city received an average of about $71,000 per year in EMPG funding. From 1998 through 2001, the city received an average of just over $20,000 per year in EMPG funding. The City received $14,063.50 in federal fiscal year (FFY) 01 and $11,431.00 in FFY 02. While the City has experienced a significant reduction in the amount of EMPG funding over the last decade, recent events have prompted an increase of EMPG funds for FFY 03. FFY 03 EMPG funding will bring $200,000.00 to the Santa Clara County Operational Area. Sunnyvale’s per capita allocation amounts to $15,440.00, however the actual amount of the disbursement is subject to approval by the Santa Clara County Emergency Preparedness Council (EPC).

With recent changes bringing FEMA into the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS), continuing EMPG funding is uncertain. The City has qualified to receive EMPG funding because it had incurred emergency management expenses at least equal to the grant amount in each of the grant years. If Council selects Alternative Four, the City will no longer qualify for EMPG funding unless it allocates a portion of some other employees’ time to Emergency Management.

Lastly, the federal government has recently allocated larger amounts of money for support of local homeland defense efforts. Some of the current allocation is for first responder training and equipment and would be unaffected by any decision Council makes on this issue. Some of the money (ex. $434,213.00 allocated to the Santa Clara County Operational Area from the FFY 2003 State Homeland Security Grant) is allocated for emergency planning and exercises. Selection of Alternative Four could put grant funding for these purposes in jeopardy. Local government access to these funds is not certain, as it is dependent upon federal and state grant guidance and decisions made by the local "Authorizing Authority".

Several alternatives present themselves for Council consideration. All alternatives are predicated on Council’s establishing three priorities for OES:

1. Community Outreach - SNAP, SARES, ARK programs
2. City Preparedness - Emergency Training Assistance to City Staff, Emergency Planning Assistance to City Departments, Regional Representation and Participation, and City Facility Inspections
3. Program Administration - Activities, Budget & Outcomes, Grant Application and Management, Cost Recovery Assistance

Alternative One leaves the current structure and allocated resources in place, but proposes realignment of outcome measures, activity/product definitions and documentation procedures consistent with identified priorities, existing resources, and current practice. All current services are maintained, including assistance, information and referral services for schools and businesses. [No fiscal impact]

Alternative Two maintains staffing at two and one half personnel, but replaces the current Public Safety Lieutenant with a Certified Emergency Manager. It also proposes realignment of outcome measures, activity/product definitions and documentation procedures consistent with identified priorities, existing resources, and current practice. All current services are maintained, including assistance, information and referral services for schools and businesses. [Savings unknown (the difference in salary and benefits of a PS Lt. and a Certified Emergency Manager)]

Alternative Three cuts staffing by one full-time position to a single CSO and half-time Staff Office Assistant (SOA). It proposes realignment of outcome measures, activity/product definitions and documentation procedures consistent with remaining resources. It also proposes an increase in Direct Expenses of $18,750 to be used for hiring the services of contract Emergency Management professionals to plan, conduct and evaluate an annual disaster exercise, as well as to train City staff in various Emergency Management practices (approx. 250 hours/year). This alternative will result in a less effective program of training, disaster exercises and support for City EMO staff and also eliminates current commercial and school services. [Savings of $153,931.60 (the difference in salary and benefits + the increased direct expense)]

Alternative Four discontinues the 452 program in its entirety and eliminates all services. [Savings of $287,456.71 (total program budget less Internal Service Charges and allocations)]

Staff recommends the adoption of Alternative Two.

Staff recommendation of Alternative Two is based upon a recognition that there is a significant depth and breadth of knowledge required of an Emergency Manager that takes time and commitment to master. The current Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Public Safety Officer’s Association (PSOA) limits the tenure of a Public Safety Lieutenant in a special assignment (such as OES) to a maximum of 6 years (under certain circumstances). If a six year rotation was the norm, that tenure would be an acceptable amount of time to allow the development and utilization of the requisite expertise. Experience has shown the normal rotation in this position to be approximately 2 years. Rotation this often does not consistently provide the City with an educated, experienced Emergency Manager leading OES.

Staff believes that hiring a professionally trained and certified civilian Emergency Manager, who will enter the position with expertise and experience, and who will be much more likely to stay in the position long-term, provides the City and Community with a more consistent Emergency Management Program.

Prepared by:
Lt. Douglas LaMar
Department of Public Safety
Coordinator, Office of Emergency Services

Reviewed by:
Irwin I. Bakin
Director, Department of Public Safety