AGENDA #4d

 

MEMORANDUM

 

TO:                  Mayor and Town Council

 

FROM:            W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

 

SUBJECT:       Budget Adjustment for Purchase of Special Fire Department Equipment

 

DATE:             September 9, 2002

 

 

The attached ordinance would amend the budget to allocate $14,800 for purchase of special operations protective equipment for the Fire Department, as a part of the cooperative regional effort in emergency planning and preparation.

 

BACKGROUND

 

In March of this year we provided information about creation of a specialized team capable of responding to catastrophic incidents in the Triangle region.  The team will have members from Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh Fire Departments.

 

DISCUSSION

 

The fire chiefs of the four cities have worked together to develop a joint special operations team that will provide us with capabilities not currently available in the region.  The federal Urban Search & Rescue team closest to our region is in Virginia Beach, VA with an anticipated response time of six hours.  We believe that the risk potential of the Triangle area (major universities, significant transportation hub and corridors, Research Triangle Park, multiple large crowd venues, and high profile communities) requires local special operations capability.  

The special operations team will receive high level training in heavy rescue, structural collapse, vertical rescue, weapons of mass destruction response, response to catastrophic incidents from any hazard, confined space and below grade rescue, and major incident management.  Development of the special operations team will complement the regional emergency preparedness effort currently being developed through the Triangle J Council of Governments.  Town staff are active in this work, also.

 

The Raleigh Fire Department will be the lead agency, acquire instructor training and provide training to the other departments.  Much of the training will be completed in-house, but there also will be regular training involving members of all four departments.

 

Specialized protective equipment will be needed for Chapel Hill staff who participate in the special training.  The clothing and equipment needed is different from normal firefighting equipment and we do not currently possess any of it.  The total cost to adequately equip the 26 personnel from the Chapel Hill Fire Department is estimated to be $14,800.  We recommend allocating the necessary funds from the Council’s contingency account.  We anticipate that this program will be eligible in the future for grant assistance under federal Home Defense funding.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

 

We recommend that the Council authorize the transfer of $14,800 from General Fund contingency to the Fire Department equipment budget for the purpose of purchasing protective equipment for Chapel Hill fire personnel as part of the development of a regional special operations team.  The amount remaining in the contingency account after the proposed transfer would be $31,629.

 

ATTACHMENTS

 

1.      Equipment List (p. 4)

2.      Special Operations Team Development Objectives (p. 5)

AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND “THE ORDINANCE CONCERNING APPROPRIATIONS AND THE RAISING OF REVENUE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1, 2002 (2002-09-09/O-3)

 

BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Budget Ordinance entitled “An Ordinance Concerning Appropriations and the Raising of Revenue for the Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2002” as duly adopted on July 26, 2002, be and the same is hereby amended as follows:

 

ARTICLE I

 

APPROPRIATIONS	Current Budget	Increase	Decrease	Revised Budget
GENERAL FUND
Non-departmental Contingency	46,429		14,800	31,629
Fire	4,825,091	14,800		4,810,291

 

 

This the 9^th day of September, 2002.