To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Tyler S. Brown, Sheriff
Prepared By:
prepared
Nathan Fogg, Director, Office of Emergency Management
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presenter
Presenter: Nathan Fogg
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Subject:
title
2:00 PM *Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between Arapahoe County and the City of Littleton to Consolidate Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Functions
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The Sheriff’s Office requests the Board of County Commissioners authorize Sheriff Tyler Brown to sign an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between Arapahoe County and the City of Littleton to consolidate Office of Emergency Management (OEM) functions and authorize the Sheriff’s Office to add 1 full time employee (FTE) to the Office of Emergency Management in the Sheriff’s Office.
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Background and Discussion: The ACSO OEM provides emergency management services to the residents of unincorporated Arapahoe County and current contract municipalities. Three municipalities provide their own OEM services, in theory: Littleton, Glendale, and Greenwood Village. This largely consists of promulgating an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) based on the Arapahoe County EOP. The City of Littleton approached the OEM in 2022 to begin discussing the feasibility of the City receiving OEM services from Arapahoe County. The City recognized the importance of having access to professional emergency managers.
During the discussions with the interim City Manager and Police Department, the parties realized that an IGA was needed where the City would pay for an Arapahoe County 0.5 FTE that would meet the City's needs while unifying the plans, concepts, and operations of Emergency Management organizations within the county. This unification of planning, organizing, equipping, training, exercising, and responding serves to simplify disaster response and recovery and is expected to yield increased efficiencies as the program matures. The City, as noted in the IGA, will pay for 0.5 FTE ($65,467 inclusive of benefits) and equipment to support the position but receives the benefit of the entire office. Cost increase requests will be submitted in writing to the City of Littleton no later than June 15th of each year.
The efficiencies are gained through the application of consistent planning, training, and responding. The OEM will direct the work of the new emergency management specialist in support of the IGA. Each party to the agreement can expect improvements, the City with items outlined in the agreement and the County by having additional staff to support, more fully, a mission which we would likely accept in the event of large-scale disaster. Long-term, this model is likely to gain momentum with other municipalities and is on the cutting edge of Emergency Management paradigms in Colorado.
Fiscal Impact: The fiscal impact to the county is negligible. To add the 1 FTE to OEM, the costs of the 0.5 FTE and equipment are to be paid by the City of Littleton through this IGA. The OEM will direct and oversee the 0.5 FTE's work program, review and approve work product, and in some instances support the City efforts with the entire staff. These events are, by their nature, unpredictable and difficult to quantify in terms of a consistent expenditure. The Sheriff’s Office expects to return at Fourth Quarter Budget Review to allocate Emergency Management Program Grant dollars to make the position whole. The grant supports of the OEM annually with about $85,000 that would cover the remaining 0.5 FTE.
Alternatives: The alternative is for the County to not sign the IGA and not consolidate these services for the City of Littleton. Littleton would continue to maintain nominal responsibility for this function, with the option, per C.R.S., to turn over OEM responsibilities to ACSO when they choose to do so and without financial obligation for costs.
Alignment with Strategic Plan:
☒Be fiscally sustainable
☒Provide essential and mandated service
☐Be community focused
Staff Recommendation: The Sheriff’s Office and OEM recommend signing the IGA.
Concurrence: Olga Fujaros, Sheriff’s Finance Manager; Glenn Thompson, Public Safety Bureau Chief; Mark Nicastle, Undersheriff; Tyler Brown, Sheriff; Finance Department; County Attorney’s Office