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Rancho Santa Margarita council approves emergency-management consulting agreement
Summary
The Rancho Santa Margarita City Council unanimously approved a professional services agreement with Jacob Green & Associates to perform a gap analysis and update the city's Emergency Operations Plan to align with state and federal standards; staff said the work will improve deployability and FEMA compliance.
The Rancho Santa Margarita City Council on April 9 approved a professional services agreement with Jacob Green and Associates Inc. to perform a gap analysis and update the city's Emergency Operations Plan (EOP).
Staff said the contract will review the city's organizational structure, municipal code provisions and emergency plans against regional, state and federal requirements including the California Emergency Services Act and FEMA guidance to identify gaps and recommend an emergency management work plan. "Our goal is to ensure the EOP is easily deployable by city staff," the staff presenter said during the council's review.
Jacob Green, the consultant attending the meeting, described his firm as an Orange County-based emergency management practice of about 35 public-safety professionals and said the firm has supported cities that sought outside expertise after recent wildfires. "We were actually called in by the city of Malibu," Green said, adding his team will incorporate lessons learned into Rancho Santa Margarita's gap analysis and work plan.
City staff said the city's EOP was established in 2002 and last updated in 2016, before Public Safety Power Shutoffs and some more recent wildfire response lessons were common. Staff described the update as intended to improve FEMA reimbursement compliance and operational readiness (staff trainings, EOC functionality, mutual-aid coordination and alternate EOC arrangements).
Councilmember discussion was brief; one councilor asked whether the firm had direct wildfire response experience and Green confirmed his team had supported municipal EOC activations and regional after-action discussions. Councilmember motioned to approve the staff recommendation; the motion was seconded and carried on a unanimous voice vote.
The contract was described in the presentation as a fixed-fee engagement; the transcript rendered the amount unclearly (spoken as "48.03 50"). Staff presentation did not provide an unambiguous dollar figure in the record heard on the meeting audio. The staff presenter said the work would be funded from council-designated strategic fund reserves and included in the 2025'—26 budget.
