Agenda

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County Administrator's Report 13. 9.

BCC Regular Meeting

Technical/Public Service Consent

Meeting Date:	12/05/2019
Issue: Memorandum of Agreement Between the Board and the FEMA Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Program Management Office
From:	JOHN DOSH
Department:	Public Safety
CAO Approval:

RECOMMENDATION:

Recommendation Concerning the Memorandum of Agreement Between the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners and the Federal Emergency Management Agency Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Program Management Office - John S. Dosh, Interim Public Safety Director

That the Board take the following action regarding the Memorandum of Agreement between the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners and the Federal Emergency Management Agency Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Program Management Office:

A. Approve the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), which establishes a management relationship between the two parties, defines the professional conduct with respect to the access, utilization, and security standards between the inter-operable notification systems of Escambia County's portal to Florida's Emergency Message Notification System for Emergency Alert Messages and the FEMA IPAWS-Open national backbone communications/notification system, that structures the alert and distributes the emergency messages from one inter-operable system to another; and

B. Authorize the Chairman or Vice Chairman to execute the MOA and all related documents as required to implement the MOA.

BACKGROUND:

The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) is an architecture that unifies the United States' Emergency Alert System, National Warning System, Wireless Emergency Alerts, and NOAA Weather Radio, under a single platform. This is a parallel national emergency alert notification system to that of the local Escambia County Everbridge Emergency Alert System, locally referred to as Alert Escambia. This Agreement allows Escambia County and the County Everbridge emergency notification system integrated access to the IPAWS systems for national emergency alerts if the emergency situation identifies a need for that level of notification.

A select few Public Safety Department staff will be designated by the Manager of the Division of Emergency Management to be trained and authorized to utilize the notification system and maintain the integrity of the emergency notification system.

BUDGETARY IMPACT:

N/A

LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS/SIGN-OFF:

Kristin Hual, Senior Assistant County Attorney, has reviewed the Agreement and approved it as to form and legal sufficiency.

PERSONNEL:

Implementation of this Agreement will be coordinated with existing Division of Emergency Management staff.

POLICY/REQUIREMENT FOR BOARD ACTION:

Board of County Commissioners' Policies require Board approval for Memorandums of Agreement.

IMPLEMENTATION/COORDINATION:

Implementation of this Agreement will be coordinated between the Escambia County Division of Emergency Management staff, FEMA, and the State of Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Attachments
IPAWS agreement