PURPOSE

The Purpose of this staff report is to request City Council�s support of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) through adoption of a NIMS resolution.

BACKGROUND

On February 28, 2003, President Bush issued a Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD-5).  The intent of this directive is to enhance the ability of the United States to manage domestic incidents such as terrorism and man-made and natural disasters by establishing a single, comprehensive, national incident management system.

ANALYSIS

As a result of HSPD-5, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) developed NIMS, which is to be utilized for the management of all types of disasters. NIMS is very similar to California�s Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS), which was adopted through State legislation in the 1990s. The similarity between the two systems is most evident in the NIMS version of the Incident Command System (ICS) and adoption of the concept of mutual aid.  In comparing NIMS with SEMS, there are some minor differences to the State adopted SEMS organization; however, these changes are only a negligible departure from the basic SEMS program.

The Department of Homeland Security has notified all recipients of Federal grant funds relating to anti-terrorism, that adoption of and compliance with NIMS is required for future participation in Federal grants.

The Governor�s Office of Emergency Services (OES) has begun the process of integrating the NIMS program with California�s adopted SEMS program.  Ultimately, in California, SEMS will be synonymous with NIMS, and all government agencies will be required to use the new NIMS in order to qualify for post-disaster personnel cost reimbursement, as well as to qualify for Federal anti-terrorism grants.

The NIMS is a new federal program and details pertaining to the specifics of the system continue to emerge. Therefore, the federal government has made compliance with NIMS a phased process.  The first required action in this process is for Burbank to adopt the attached Resolution, recognizing NIMS as the City's standard for incident management.

FISCAL IMPACT

The total cost of compliance cannot be determined at this time; however, staff involved in emergency response and emergency management will need to be trained in the coming year.  The cost of this training will most likely be equivalent to the ongoing SEMS training that the City has provided to staff since the 1990s.

The cost of non-compliance is also undetermined but could be substantial, given the loss of Federal anti-terrorism grants and the potential loss of emergency response costs from a disaster.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the City Council adopt a resolution incorporating the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as the standard for incident management within the City of Burbank, and participate in the phased implementation of NIMS as required by the federal and State governments.

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