Committee reviews OEMHS budget: Everbridge funding shift and reduced JOC scope draw debate

Chair Lukasz Katz convened the Public Safety Committee on April 29 to review FY27 operating recommendations for the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (OEMHS) and related CIP changes. Kristen Cummings, legislative analyst, told the committee the executive recommends a $1,758,165 increase to the OEMHS operating budget and introduced three reconciliation-list items that would replace expiring federal grant support with county funding.

Cummings outlined the largest reconciliation item as an $800,000 shift from grant funds into general fund reserves to sustain the Everbridge alert system, the platform behind Alert Montgomery. She said the grants that had paid for the system expire in June 2026 and OEMHS identified continued Everbridge support as “a top operational need.”

The committee also considered a $425,000 line to replace expiring public access trauma care (PATC) kits deployed in county government buildings; Cummings said the packet lists kits in 209 county buildings, would replace 601 kits and expand coverage to an additional 12 facilities. Cummings noted school kits are funded by MCPS and the county proposal only covers government facilities; OEMHS staff later clarified $63,000 of the line covers PPE/uniforms and roughly $387,000 covers PATC kit replacement and related supplies.

The meeting turned to a CIP amendment that would narrow the scope of the recently appropriated Public Safety Joint Operation Center (JOC). Cummings summarized the county-executive proposal to reduce the originally appropriated $2.4 million to $848,000, limited to cabling and information-technology connectivity, and to phase remaining features over time. The packet described the JOC as a collocated space intended to host police operations, a real-time intelligence center, drone-first-responder capabilities and other cross-disciplinary functions.

OEMHS staff told the committee that, while grant funds were used to buy much of the JOC’s hardware, federal grants typically will not pay for capital work inside walls and therefore cannot fund hardwiring and certain infrastructure upgrades. OEMHS staff provided a technical breakdown that placed cabling at roughly $257,000, radio infrastructure at about $640,000, radios at $216,000 and electrical upgrades at $37,000 — a total that OEMHS described as closer to $1.1 million to fully address reliability and personnel safety concerns in the facility.

Committee members pressed why funds appropriated in February were being re-scoped and whether the executive’s affordability decision had delayed or reallocated work meant to be completed within 90 days. Earl Stoddard, assistant chief administrative officer, and OMB staff said the executive reduced scope to limit additional operating costs the county could not fund and to leverage available federal technology grants where allowable. They also said federal and congressional funds secured for technology freed up some capacity but could not be used for hard capital work such as cabling.

Chair Katz signaled the committee’s urgency on Everbridge, saying the alert platform’s continuity “saves lives,” and the committee agreed to place reconciliation items for OEMHS on the reconciliation list for further council consideration. Staff committed to provide the requested line-item breakdowns and to coordinate with OMB on how FY26 appropriations and FY27 encumbrances will be reflected when the packet goes to full council.

What happens next: Staff will refine the numbers and reconciliations and present a clear funding and encumbrance plan at full council; the committee left the JOC scope question open while noting OEMHS’ estimate that full hardwiring and radio infrastructure would exceed the executive’s $848,000 recommendation.

Representative quotes: “The Everbridge Alert System is the operating support system behind Alert Montgomery. They provide public-facing alerts.” — Kristen Cummings, legislative analyst. “For your edification, $63,000 of that line item is for the PPE uniforms … the $387,000 remaining is all for the public access trauma care kits.” — the director of the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. “We were able to identify some grant funding that was available that we redirected from some of our other projects.” — Earl Stoddard, Assistant Chief Administrative Officer.

Ending: The committee asked staff to bring the clarified cost breakdowns and any revised CIP alignment to full council for final decisions.