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Item #14 CITY OF COLTON AGENDA REPORT FOR THE COUNCIL MEETING OF OCTOBER 15, 2002 TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council FROM: Thomas Hendrix, Fire Chief SUBJECT: Approve acceptance of FEMA Grant requiring matching funds and approve and adopt a Resolution amending the Budget for Fiscal Year commencing July 1, 2002 and ending June 30, 2003 DATE: BACKGROUND: October 7, 2002 The Colton Fire Department was one of the first 300 fire departments nation-wide to receive a grant through the FIRE Act of 2002. FEMA awarded Colton Fire Department a grant in the amount of $286,815 to fund our Firefighter Safety and Survival Project. The grant requires the City to provide a 10% match in the amount of $31,868. ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION: The FIRE Act of 2002 (Federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program) provides $350,000,000 to be distributed on a competitive basis nation-wide. More than 19,000 applications were received by FEMA. Out of those, only 5,500 applications are expected to be funded. Colton Fire Department was one of the first 300 Fire Departments nation- wide to successfully obtain a grant to fund our Firefighter Safety and Survival Project. The funding will be used to purchase essential equipment to protect the lives of our citizens and firefighters. Specifically, the funding will be used to purchase a personnel accountability system, to replace our older non-compliant self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBAs) with OSHA compliant self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), to replace our obsolete portable radios with an integrated fire ground communication system, and to purchase additional thermal imaging equipment. The replacement of the SCBAs and the portable radios with grant funds relieves the necessity of utilizing general fund revenues for these inevitable purchases. The grant, in the amount of $286,815 requires a 10% match ($31,868) by the City of Colton. The grant also requires that the "grantee maintain their operating expenses in the funded grant category at a level equal to or greater than the average of their operating expenditures in the two fiscal years preceding the fiscal year in which the grant is awarded."