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Bettendorf moves Quad City IMAT agreement forward on consent
Summary
At the Aug. 4 Committee of the Whole meeting, Bettendorf staff described a proposed Quad City Regional Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT) agreement designed to pool multi-jurisdictional incident management resources; the council voted to leave the resolution on the consent agenda for formal consideration at the next council meeting.
At the Aug. 4 Committee of the Whole meeting, Bettendorf City officials reviewed a proposed Quad City Regional Incident Management Assistance Team agreement and voted to keep the resolution on the consent agenda for the council meeting the following day.
Fire Chief Troy Sade described the IMAT as a multijurisdictional assistance team that goes beyond fire departments to include law enforcement, public works, GIS specialists and public information officers. "It's an assistance team that comes in to assist, and I'll make that very clear, assist the, jurisdiction that's having an issue with their team," Sade said. He told the committee the agreement would be voluntary and that department-head approval would be required for individuals to participate.
The chief told the committee the team is intended for long-term or multi-operational incidents, when local resources can be strained after the first 24–48 hours. He cited recent deployments by Bettendorf personnel to flood response operations in Texas and said IMAT members also help with paperwork and state/federal reimbursement processes. Sade said the group aims to have three to four positions filled from each participating jurisdiction and expected the team to be operational by spring of the coming year.
Sade credited Robin Dunn of Danport Public Works, described in the meeting as communications and preparedness manager, and Brian Payne (EMA) for leading the document and contract work. Committee members asked for a future briefing or media summary from staff returning from recent deployments.
Committee chair Scott Nauman called for a motion to keep the item on the consent agenda for the city council meeting the next day. After a motion and second, the committee approved the placement by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.
The resolution and draft agreement were included in the council packet, and staff told the committee the existing 2080 agreement between Iowa and Illinois that covers fire departments did not cover the broader mix of disciplines the IMAT would include.
