Homeland security doesn't twist arms

Editor,

I would like to comment on the article in the December 10th Saratoga Sun “Police Chief Combats WOHS.”

The so called “Red Tape” that was referred to when accepting the grants has always been a requirement for the grants. However for years the sub-recipients of those grants have been spoiled, we were allowed to purchase pretty much what we wanted from our wish lists. Wish lists are those items that the city councils or commissioners may not normally approve the purchase of out of our budgets. In the past Wyoming Homeland Security has been lenient with the sub-recipients on these requirements, they are now telling us we will follow those requirements if we want the grant monies.

Homeland Security doesn’t twist any sub-recipients arm when they make grant monies available. The grant agreement goes before the City Council or the County Commissioners and they are the first ones to decide if they are going to accept the grant monies. Once the council or commission accepts the grant, not only do they sign the grant agreement but the department head of the department receiving the grant also signs off on it. At any time those department heads don’t want the grant monies all they have to do is tell their council or commission and simply not sign the acceptance documentation.

However when those Grant Agreements are signed the sub-recipient is agreeing to follow the guidelines and requirement of the grants. These requirements may change from grant cycle to grant cycle depending on what FEMA is focusing on out of the 31 Core Capabilities. They must also be measurable and result driven. One of the other requirements is that the town or county must have adopted the National Incident Manage System/ Incident Command System for the process of handling major incidents be it terrorist, manmade disaster or natural disaster.

This present grant cycle is focusing on the Whole Community. The Whole Community concept has been around for years but is now more of a focus point. They want to see Whole Community involvement when we are updating or writing new plans. They want to see more community outreach to organizations such as Faith Based, Non-Governmental organizations, schools, and many more.

Having us fill out the project work sheets is just getting us ready for the requirements that are yet to come. In the near future funding will be determined by project based. I filled out five project worksheets so far for this grant cycle, I spent less than an hour filling out all five worksheets estimated to be over twelve thousand dollars for these projects, which is a good return for an hour of my time.

The Sun quoted from the 2014 Funding Opportunity Announcement from page four “Funding Opportunity Announcement”. I would like to quote the last paragraph under the same heading as the quote.

All three programs are founded on risk driven, capabilities-based strategic plans. These strategic plans outline capability requirements and inform how available funding may be applied to manage risk. For these plans to be effective, government officials and elected leaders, working with the Whole Community, must consider how to sustain current capability levels and address potential gaps to prevent, protect, mitigate, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism and other disasters.

John Zeiger,

Carbon County Emergency Management Coordinator