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Board committee backs layered Homeland Security grants, sets conditions on regional UASI control
Summary
The committee approved forwarding a package of DEM grant acceptances and reserve releases — including a $22.656 million Super UASI grant and $776,000 buffer-zone funds — but amended items to require quarterly reporting, waiver of indirect costs where grantors don’t provide them, and limited release of reserves pending grant-extension decisions.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Finance Committee on [date] forwarded a package of Homeland Security grant measures for full-board consideration, approving most items with amendments aimed at preserving local oversight and fiscal clarity.
Laura Phillips, executive director of the Department of Emergency Management, told the committee the packet includes multiple awards and requests: a State Homeland Security pass-through of $1,667,904, a $22,656,000 Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant requiring regional governance, authorization to extend 39 grant-funded positions through June 30, a $776,000 buffer-zone protection award for 16 sites, and a request to release $1,322,067 of homeland-security reserves to support planning, exercises and a partial renovation of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
The committee and the budget analyst sought assurances about lingering risks and long-term liabilities. Deborah Newman of the Budget Analyst’s Office said several prior UASI grant cycles are expiring and that the city still has unspent balances from earlier grant years; she recommended amending grant ordinances to request waivers of indirect costs where the grantor does not provide them and to require quarterly reporting back to the Board. The budget analyst also recommended releasing $1,098,536 (a subset of the requested reserves) for projects for which detailed budgets had been supplied, while treating other reserve requests as policy matters.
Supervisors pressed Phillips on governance: once the Board accepts and approves the regional MOU, allocations will be decided by the Super UASI group rather than the Board. Phillips confirmed San Francisco and other Bay Area jurisdictions would set up a regional decision body (the Super UASI) and that San Francisco would serve as fiscal agent for the region. Several supervisors said they want explicit Board approval language for any funds allocated to San Francisco and discussed placing a local percentage on reserve until reporting or allocation rules are clearer.
On buffer-zone protection funds, Phillips described the program as funding 16 sites at roughly $48,500 each for equipment such as monitoring devices and cameras; specifics are law-enforcement-sensitive and were flagged for closed-session discussion if the committee wished further detail.
After debate, the committee agreed to the budget analyst’s recommended changes: amend grant ordinances to include an indirect-cost waiver where appropriate, require periodic reporting back to the Board, and release $1,098,536 of reserve funds now while treating other reserve items as policy matters for the full Board. Item 13 (the buffer-zone item) was continued for further action with a closed-session briefing on site-sensitive details.
Next steps: the amended items will go to the full Board as committee reports, and DEM was asked to return with the strategic staffing plan and details needed to evaluate continued funding beyond the current fiscal year.
