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Committee advances renewal of Bay Area UASI memorandum of understanding through 2017
Summary
The committee advanced a new memorandum of understanding extending the Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) MOU through Dec. 1, 2017, keeping San Francisco as the primary grantee and fiscal agent; officials said the MOU makes no fiscal commitments and discussed recent federal funding declines and regional allocation priorities.
The Budget and Finance Committee on Sept. 25 advanced a resolution approving a new memorandum of understanding among Bay Area cities and counties that governs administration and allocation of federal Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant funds, and continues San Francisco’s role as primary grantee and fiscal agent.
Ami Alden of the Department of Emergency Management explained that the MOU formally extends the existing governance arrangement through Dec. 1, 2017, and contains no substantive changes from the prior agreement; she said there is no fiscal impact from the MOU itself but member jurisdictions must each pass the MOU for it to take effect.
Alden and supervisors discussed recent trends in federal grant awards. Alden said FEMA bases allocations chiefly on risk evaluations and also noted recent overall cuts in federal grant funding: "FEMA allocates their awards based on a couple of things. The number 1 thing is risk," she told the committee, adding that the Bay Area competes with other large metros and that Washington, D.C., and New York often rank highest in FEMA's determinations. She cited local consequences of reduced funding, including lost training (a shelter-training program) and delayed radio interoperability upgrades for first responders.
Allocation process and regional governance: Alden described a collaborative, peer-review process for prioritizing projects that engages police, fire, sheriff, public health and other departments; priorities are ultimately approved by the Homeland Security Executive Steering Committee and, at the regional level, by the UASI approval authority. She said San Francisco commonly receives the largest share of regional allocations but that funds are used for both city-specific and regional projects, and stressed that jurisdictions must pass the MOU for it to take effect by Dec. 1.
Committee outcome: Committee members moved the MOU forward without recorded opposition. Alden said the UASI approval authority had unanimously approved the new MOU the prior month, and she noted the prior MOU expired Dec. 1 of the meeting year.
