Council authorizes two-year emergency services coordinator contract with Riverside County EMD

The Beaumont City Council authorized a two-year agreement with the Riverside County Emergency Management Department (EMD) to assign an Emergency Services Coordinator (ESC) to support local planning, training and disaster response coordination.

Lieutenant Nathan Lunt said the county ESC will provide a full-time contracted presence (40 hours per week) to lead the city’s local hazard mitigation plan update, the emergency operations plan, ICS training and preparedness exercises. Michael Ornellis of Riverside County EMD detailed services including coordination for mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, grants assistance, an on-call duty officer and business/finance support for state and federal reimbursements.

Ornellis said the county expects the LHMP update to take about a year-and-a-half to two years and that the ESC will lead interdepartmental work and exercises. He said the county provides a dedicated duty officer who can respond to incidents and that EMD’s business and finance team supports reimbursement efforts; county staff reported a high recoup rate for eligible reimbursements when documentation and processes are in place.

Council moved and approved the agreement; the motion passed by unanimous roll call.