Item C18
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Meeting Date: June 15,2005
Bulk Item: Y es ~ No
Division:
County Administrator
Department: Fire Rescue
Staff Contact Person: Captain Zavalney
AGENDA ITEM WORDING: Approval to submit a grant application to the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, Office of Domestic Preparedness for a SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and
Emergency Response) Grant, a subset of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program.
ITEM BACKGROUND: The purpose of the SAFER grants is to award grants directly to volunteer,
combination, and career fire departments to help them increase their cadre of firefighters. Ultimately,
the goal is for SAFER grantees to enhance their ability to attain 24-hour staffing and thus assuring their
communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards.
The AFG is administered by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of State and Local
Government Coordination and Preparedness (SLGCP) in cooperation with the U.S. Fire
Administration. Through the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2005, Congress
provided $65 million for the SAFER grants. The Hiring of Firefighters Activity involves a five-year
grant to assist fire departments to pay a portion of the salaries of newly hired firefighters. These newly
hired positions must be in addition to authorized and funded active firefighter positions. Grantees must
do everything in their power to maintain the number of authorized and funded positions as declared at
the time of application PLUS the awarded new firefighter positions throughout the period of
performance (five years). Grantees that fail to maintain this level of staffing risk losing all or a portion
of their grant. Volunteer, combination, and non-profit career fire departments are all eligible to apply
for assistance in hiring new firefighters. These grants require the awardee to match an increasing
proportion of the salary over a four-year period; in the fifth year of the grant, the awardee must absorb
the entire cost of any positions awarded as a result of the grant.
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION: None. This is the first time this grant program has
been available.
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES: NI A
STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: Approval
TOTAL COST: $ TBD at time of award*
BUDGETED: Yes
No X
COST TO COUNTY: $ TBD at time of award* SOURCE OF FllNDS:
* Specific grant instructions have not been made available as of this writing.
REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes No ~ AMOV:\"T PER l\lO:\"TH Year
APPROVED BY:
County Atty N/ A
N/A
DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL:
DOCUMENT A TION:
Included
.\lot Required
DISPOSITION:
AGENDA ITEM #
Revised 2/05