Title
Recommendation to Accept $1,876,823 Grant from the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Program; and
Adoption of Resolution Amending the Fiscal Year 2018-19 Fire Grants Fund Revenue and Expenditures Budget by $3,043,494, Each, and the General Fund Expenditures Budget by $1,166,671 to Allocate the Required Matching Funds per the Grant Requirement. (Fire 220)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: David L. Rudat, Interim City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Fire Department has been awarded a new Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant to hire six limited-term firefighters. Under new conditions of the award, the grant requires a local match of $1,166,671. The federal share of the grant is $1,876,823 for a total cost of $3,043,494. The City of Alameda must accept the grant in order for the Fire Department to fund six limited-term firefighter positions.
BACKGROUND
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Grant Programs Directorate implements and administers the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grants. SAFER grants provide financial assistance to help fire departments increase the number of frontline firefighters, rehire firefighters who have been laid off, retain firefighters facing imminent layoffs, or fill positions that were vacated through attrition.
Over the past 10 years, the City of Alameda Fire Department has applied for four separate SAFER grants for the purpose of hiring six limited-term firefighters for a duration of two years each. The Fire Department was awarded a 2009 and a 2011 SAFER grant, both in the amount of $1.76 million. The Fire Department was awarded another two year SAFER grant in August 2015 in the amount of $2.2 million. Staff applied with FEMA to extend the performance period for this latest grant and expect to hear on the decision within next month.
In April 2018, the Fire Departm...
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