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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10752RESOLUTION NO. 10752 A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE APPLICATION FOR A GRANT TO THE "ASSISTANCE TO FIREFIGHTERS GRANT PROGRAM" AND AUTHORIZING THE PRESIDENT OF THE CITY COUNCIL TO EXECUTE SAME WHEREAS, the city of Pueblo supports the acquisition of equipment to facilitate the safe and efficient firefighting operations by the Pueblo Fire Department, it authorizes the grant application to the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF PUEBLO, that: SECTION 1. The grant application to the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program for the acquisition of equipment, a copy of which is attached hereto, is hereby approved. The President of the City Council is authorized to file the grant application in the name of the City. SECTION 2. Acceptance of the Grant and appropriation of matching funds from the 2007 budget will be brought to City Council by separate Ordinance. SECTION 3 This resolution shall become effective upon final passage and approval. BY Randy Thurston Councilperson APPROVED: President of City Council ATTESTED BY: CITY CLERK INTRODUCED June 12, 2006 Background Paper for Proposed RESOLUTION )�zo # 10 `)52, AGENDA ITEM # 13 DATE: June 12, 2006 DEPARTMENT: FIRE DEPARTMENT -TERRY FURNEY TITLE A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE APPLICATION FOR A GRANT TO THE "ASSISTANCE TO FIREFIGHTERS GRANT PROGRAM" AND AUTHORIZING THE PRESIDENT OF THE CITY COUNCIL TO EXECUTE SAME. ISSUE This is an application for a grant administered by the Department of Homeland Security. If the grant is awarded, the acceptance of the grant and appropriation of matching funds will be brought to City Council by separate Ordinance. Approval to apply for the Assistance to Firefighter Grant BACKGROUND The City is applying for approximately $325,181.00 in Federal dollars for the acquisition of mobile and hand -held radios. FINANCIAL IMPACT The grant requires a 20% cash match. Based on our anticipated grant amount of $325,181.00, the match would be $81,295.00 for a total amount of $406,476.00. Matching funds will come from the Grant Matching Fund account in the general fund. Application Number: EMW- 2006 -FG -04552 Narrative Statement Page 13 of 21 Project Description Please provide your narrative statement In the space provided below. Include in your narrative, details regarding (1) your project's description and budget, (2) your organization's financial need, (3) the benefit to be derived from the cost of your project, and (4) how the activities requested in your application will help your organization's daily operations and how this grant will protect life and property. Assistance to Firefighters Grant This grant application is being submitted under the Operations and Safety section of the 2006 Grant Prods. The City of Pueblo Is In the process of migrating to the Digital Trunk Radio System to enhance the overall Response and Interoperability component of our jurisdiction. This is a very costly situation but we are fortunate in having many funding possibilities to accomplish this task. Presently we operate with a combination of UHF and VHF components in our current radio system. The current equipment Is very dated and the upkeep Is becoming more costly due to the unavailability of parts or manufacturer4s support. The City of Pueblo recently annexed a very large generating facility into the city Emits and as a result of this action, the utility company was required to provide funds for the construction of a new Police Building and two additional Fire Stations. Our present Dispatch Center is located in the current Police Building. The Dispatch Center was scheduled for an upgrade when the move was made to the new facility. During the lengthy annexation negotiations and In the design phase of the new building, it became apparent that an upgrade of the Dispatch Center would not be adequate and the upgrade would not be feasible in light of the nationwide movement towards communication Interoperability. The City and County of Pueblo entered into a collaborative agreement to establish the feasibility and equipment needs to accomplish the migration to the DTRS. A comprehensive radio study was commissioned and the results were given to both the city and county. The ensuing LPedcle Studyl gave us the information needed to begin the acquisition of equipment and radio sites necessary to make the system functional. From the study, it was determined that the cost of the DTRS for the City of Pueblo would approach a six million dollar figure. The City of Pueblo was successful in obtaining the funds necessary for the construction of one of the two recommended radio towers. These funds were obtained from Energy Impact Funds through the WIN Initiative. This particular tower Is presently In the design portion of the construction process. An additional one million dollar grant was secured from CSEPP which is the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program. These funds were to be used to facilitate the implementation of DTRS. Pueblo was required to provide a two rrilNon dollar match to secure this grant. The match can be in the form of infrastructure, including buildings and equipment. Pueblo County was also successful In obtaining one million, two hundred thousand from the some source to be used in their DTRS endeavors. Pueblo County Is part of the five - county South Region for Homeland Security in the State of Colorado. The City and County of Pueblo are active participants in this region and the 2006 Grant submisslon focused almost entirely on the acquisition of equipment to enable the City and County of Pueblo to migrate to the DTRS. During the grant process, It became apparent that due to the large dollar amount that would be required to complete this process, the total award would not logically be enough to equip alt of the responders. As a result of this detemdnetion, we prioritized our request moving the Law Enforcement portion to the first tier of the request. The Law Enforcement portion of the request was by far the most costly of the process. The consensus of the committee was to hopefully be able to equip the Law Enforcement portion from the Colomdo,&s Homeland Security Grant and pursue other avenues for the other responders. There were also other requests made in the first priority for the other counties In the region, but these were minor requests to finish their DTRS components as they were complete in some counties and nearly done in the others. The other counties that are in the South Region have already completed or are in the final phases of Implementing the DTRS. The funding from this grant would allow the Pueblo Fire Department to come on line with the DTRS and allow a much more efficient and interoperable response in the event of a regional response. Pueblo In located on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains and there are two major population centers located directly north of our jurisdiction. Colorado Springs and Denver are both using the DTRS. Pueblo Is the last major city on the Front Range that has not migrated to the DTRS. As we move toward more regionalization and statewide response agreements, it becomes apparent that this component is vital as we are the last major center that does not have this capability. The City and County of Pueblo are completely surrounded by jurisdictions that have the Interoperable capability. Pueblo is the last population center that vitally needs the DTRS. https: // portal. fema. gov /firegrantrj sp /fire2006/ application /print_app.j sp ?print= dve&app_pu... 6/2/2006 Application Number: EMW- 2006 -FG -04552 Page 14 of 21 The governing bodies of both the City and County have made major financial commitments to accomplish this task and the AFG is a very important component of the process. We hope that the committee will see the definite need for our grant and realize the importance of our endeavors. We thank you for your time and consideration In this matter. ` Please describe all grants that you have received from DHS including any AFG grants received from DHS or FEMA, for example, 2002 AFG grant for vehicle or 2003 ODP grant for exercises. (Enter "WA" If Not Applicable) 2001 AFG- IMldland Firefighting Clothing 2002 - AFG -Thermal Imaging Devices, SCBA Fit Test Equipment, Physical Fitness Evaluations and EQulpment 2003 - Technical Rescue Equipment https: // portal.f erna. govl firegrantljjsp lfire2006lapplicationlprint_app.jsp ?print= true&app nu... 6/2/2006