Westminster City Council
SUBJECT
Title
Adoption of Resolution Approving the 2023 West Orange County CERT Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
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publichearing
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From: Darin Lenyi, Chief of Police
Requested by: Administration
Prepared by: Anna Burton, Emergency Manager
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RECOMMENDED ACTION
Recommendation
A. Adopt a Resolution entitled, “A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WESTMINSTER, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING THE CITY OF WESTMINSTER’S PARTICIPATION IN THE WEST ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (CERT) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU)”; and
B. Authorize the City Manager and the Police Chief, or their designees, to complete and sign all necessary materials to facilitate the MOU.
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BACKGROUND
Within the United States, there are 2,700 local Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) authorized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). CERT academy participants receive 18 hours of training in Disaster Preparedness, Fire Safety, Light Search and Rescue, Team Organization, Disaster Medical Operations, Disaster Psychology, and Terrorism. Since 1993, over 600,000 people have completed CERT training nationwide. Currently, three Westminster residents have joined the CERT team as city-affiliated volunteers.
Since 2008, the West Orange County CERT training academy has successfully trained over 1,000 residents through a casual joint venture between the six cities of Buena Park, Cypress, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, and Westminster. This informal alliance, utilizing the combined resources of the six cities, has yielded economies of scale and a quality of instruction that would be unattainable by individual cities acting alone. The West Orange County CERT training academy is available to anyone, with preference given to residents of the six participating cities, along with residents of neighboring unincorporated areas, such as Rossmoor.
Local CERT teams are typically sponsored by a city police department or a city fire department. While the West Orange County CERT academy has been remarkably successful in joint recruitment and joint training, the West Orange County CERT academy lacks the jurisdictional authority normally afforded to a City government. Without official city affiliation, individual CERT volunteers lack state disaster service worker protection, while the City lacks liability protection.
The attached MOU preserves the high-quality, collaborative, six-city CERT academy for our collective residents. Simultaneously, the attached MOU formally assigns each retained CERT member to their respective City for registration as Disaster Service Worker Volunteers. This results in improved liability protection for the City and improved consistency in state worker compensation insurance for each affiliated CERT volunteer. Under this MOU, CERT volunteers from one city retain their insurance protection as they cross city borders to assist neighboring cities with both emergency and non-emergency functions.
The attached MOU does not produce a new joint powers authority, special district, non-profit corporation, accredited disaster council, or any other new layer of government. Instead, this MOU utilizes existing human resource processes vested within the current local governing bodies within each participating city.
This MOU was approved by the City of La Palma, as proposed, on January 16, 2023.
If the City of Westminster signs and adopts the six-city West Orange County CERT Memorandum of Understanding, the City will achieve enhanced liability protection, while City-affiliated CERT volunteers will receive state-level worker compensation protection during authorized training and disaster response.
The City has historically covered its share of expenses related to the West County CERT, encompassing one-time fingerprinting and background checks (less than $100) per volunteer. This agreement will not change this element of the program. Consequently, the fiscal impact is minimal and is associated with the cost of occasionally on-boarding new CERT volunteers.
FISCAL IMPACT
No funds are allocated to the CERT program in the Fiscal Year 2023-24 budget.
No additional appropriation is being requested for this action.
LEGAL REVIEW
The City Attorney’s Office has reviewed as to form.
CONCLUSION
If approved, the City Manager and Police Chief will execute the necessary materials.
ATTACHMENTS
1. West Orange County CERT Memorandum of Understanding
2. Resolution
REVIEWED BY
Erin Backs, Finance Director
Christian Bettenhausen, City Attorney
Christine Cordon, City Manager