COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 11:42 p.m. - - - Bill No. 080425 - Authorizing the Mayor, on behalf of the City, to execute a mutual aid agreement by and between the City of Philadelphia and the State of New Jersey, under certain terms and conditions. COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Donna Reed Miller, Chair Darrell L. Clarke William K. Greenlee Curtis Jones, Jr. James F. Kenney - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Specialists 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 I N D E X WITNESS Marianne Marrocolo...................... Deputy Director for Emergency Management 5 3 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425
Can I have your attention, everybody. Can I have your attention, please. This sometimes happens as we approach the end of the session for the summer. I'm going to recess the hearing on Law and Government for, like, five minutes, so don't anybody go anywhere, and the Public Safety Committee is going to meet far short time, and then we're going back to the Law and Government and Fairmount Park issue. I promise we'll eventually get there. Thank you.
Hi. Good morning. Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller. The Committee on Public Safety is now in session. And my goal right now is just to establish a quorum. We have: Councilman Clarke to my left, a member of the committee; Councilman Greenlee to the left, who's also a member of 4 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 the committee; Councilman Jones to my right and Councilman Kenney to my right, who are also members of the committee. And I just want to establish the quorum. We're waiting for our witness from the Administration to get here, so we're just going to not officially be in session in a sense until she gets here. Thank you. * * * (Proceedings resume.)
Good morning, Miss Marrocolo. We can begin our hearing. Our witness is here. (Witnesses come forward.)
Okay. Will the clerk please read the title of the bill.
Bill No. 080425, an ordinance authorizing the Mayor, on behalf of the City, to execute a mutual 5 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 aid agreement by and between the City of Philadelphia and the State of New Jersey, under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you. Do you have testimony you want to pass out or --
Okay. Oh, you have it? Okay. Please identify yourself and proceed with your testimony and speak into the mic.
Thank you. I am Marianne Marrocolo. I am the Deputy Director for Emergency Management.
I am Liam O'Keefe, Assistant Managing Director for Emergency Management.
I want to thank Chairwoman Miller and the members of the Committee on Public Safety for holding a hearing on the proposed 6 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 mutual aid agreement with the State of New Jersey. Today I will present to you information on why it is important for local government to enter into mutual aid agreements, provide you with examples of how mutual aid agreements have, or could have, enhanced the response to previous disasters, and provide you with specific information on the proposed mutual aid agreement before you today. Many large emergencies, such as widespread flooding and events necessitating evacuation, require support from entities beyond the borders of Philadelphia. Oftentimes, jurisdictions fail to put into place sound mutual aid agreements prior to catastrophic events, resulting in a hampered emergency response and recovery operation. Mutual aid agreements are established by two or more entities to support each other when their 7 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 resources become exhausted during an emergency. Typically, mutual aid agreements are entered into by governments; however, these agreements may also exist between other types of organizations such as with the nonprofit and private sectors. Pre-event mutual aid agreements allow for jurisdictions to plan in advance how assistance will be provided during an emergency, such as: How requests for assistance should be made and processed; how resources will be mustered, deployed, and be mobilized; and what costs will be reimbursed. The National Incident Management System, the nation's system for managing emergency incidents and events, states: Pre-incident agreements among all parties providing or requesting resources are necessary to enable effective and efficient resource management during incident 8 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 operations. The Federal Emergency Management Agency supports this doctrine outlined in the National Incident Management System by maintaining a policy on the mutual aid agreements in relation to reimbursement following federally- declared disasters. This policy encourages jurisdiction to establish written mutual aid agreements before an event occurs. This is -- Attachment A is the policy; it should be with your testimony. The US Department of Homeland Security identifies establishing mutual aid agreements as a critical task for local government to complete. It reinforces this requirement by directing Federal Homeland Security grant funds towards several national priorities, including strengthening preparedness-planning and building regional-planning processes in 9 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 communities. As discussed previously in this testimony, to manage the consequences of large emergencies, assistance across jurisdictional boundaries is often necessary. Failure to have mutual aid agreements in place prior to a disaster often slows down the response to and recovery from these emergencies. Several recent events illustrate the importance of mutual aid assistance following a disaster. To provide you with a frame of reference for the dollar cost of mutual aid response on large-scale disasters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursed state and local governments across the nation more than $146 million in mutual aid assistance, which was provided to Louisiana during the Hurricane Katrina response. Additionally, mutual aid agreements provided to Louisiana in 10 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 the aftermath of Hurricane Rita was in excess of $11 million. In the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks, many counties surrounding New York City provided personnel and equipment to support response and recovery operations. One such county was Nassau County, New York, located on Long Island, which is a continuous county to the City of New York.
From September 11th through November 30, 2001, the Nassau County Police Department provided more than 400 police personnel, including fully equipped and trained specialized police units, to supplement the city's exhausted resources and personnel. Nassau County alone contributed in excess of $7 million in assistance to the City of New York. And Nassau County -- if the City of New York and Nassau County had had in place a mutual aid agreement prior to 11 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 9/11, Nassau County would have been able to be reimbursed for their eligible straight-time labor costs. This agreement did not exist and led to millions of dollars in lost federal reimbursement for Nassau County. More than a year after the attack and in recognition of the need for improvement in the area of multi- jurisdiction response coordination, the New York City Fire Department retained a consulting firm to evaluate the agency's response to the attacks and identify recommendations to improve preparedness for future emergencies. One of the primary findings of the report included that resources were not properly coordinated or used on September 11th, although the department did request aid from emergency services in surrounding communities. The report provided several 12 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 recommendations to enhance coordination: The FDNY should develop a mutual-aid policy and sign agreements with other fire departments and agencies, allowing it to plan and operate joint responses to incidents that require additional resources beyond its own. Increasing the resource pool available through mutual aid agreements and interagency training will materially enhance the department's ability to mobilize large amounts of resources in a short period of time. Such a system will not only allow the FDNY to make targeted and measured response to a broader variety of incidents but will improve the coverage available to the city on a sustainable basis with limited investment. In October of 2007, my office began working with the State of New 13 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 Jersey, Burlington, Camden and Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem Counties in New Jersey, as well as the City of Camden on a cross-border evacuation plan. This plan provides guidance to transportation, law enforcement, and emergency management agencies serving Greater Philadelphia and conducting evacuation operations between Philadelphia and New Jersey. This plan is divided into several strategies, including: Regional response, evacuee movement, evacuee evaluation and support, and emergency response support. In developing these strategies, all parties determined that establishing a mutual aid agreement was essential. The mutual aid agreement before you today establishes the necessary mechanisms to request, deploy, and demobilize personnel and equipment and recoup costs for those activities should the parties 14 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 determine to seek reimbursement. It is important to note that this mutual aid agreement does not interfere with what are already customary responses to incidents on the bridges that cross the Delaware River. In summary, ratifying this mutual aid agreement is vital to: Establishing a clear communication chain for requests; organizing the requests; deployment and demobilization process; and identifying a mechanism for cost recovery. Once again, thank you for the opportunity to testify. I welcome any questions you might have on this important topic.
Okay, thank you. Excuse me but are you going to testify also?
Excuse 15 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 me?
Okay, thank you. Are there any questions by any committee members of this witness?
Good morning. Is there a reason why we are contracting with the State of New Jersey as opposed to the individual counties and we are -- I mean, it's just -- how do we -- why did we choose the state versus the entity of the counties? 16 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425
That's a good question. The State of New Jersey's emergency management system is very centralized in the New Jersey State Police, and their counties are not able to enter into individual mutual aid agreements. And so the New Jersey State Police superintendent signs on behalf of all of the counties. However, it is important to note that the five counties across the river have reviewed this agreement and are in agreement with the terms and conditions.
Do they also have to have a mutual aid agreement, such as we're doing today, in New Jersey to service Philadelphia?
This agreement will cover both responses to Philadelphia and responses to New Jersey.
Okay. 17 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 Thank you. Are there any other questions of this witness? (No further questions.)
Okay. It's a rough one this morning. We're waiting for Councilman Clarke so we can move this bill out of committee. We need a quorum. So we're going to recess for, like, two minutes.
Yeah. And I wasn't -- I had made a commitment to the chairperson that I wasn't going to ask any questions so that we could move onto parks and the question of Fairmount Park, but since we have an intermission, I'll ask a couple of questions. Have we had problems in the 18 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 past with reimbursement? And I know we played a major role with the recovery for the Katrina efforts. And also, I understand that were involved in the Lebanese evacuation, and we used Philadelphia as a port of distribution for refugees. Have we had a problem in the past generally getting reimbursed for any recovery or rescue efforts that we've had?
I wouldn't classify it as a problem. It's a bureaucratic process to get reimbursed from the federal government. And in going though, obviously, as you're familiar, any bureaucratic process, there's always obstacles to be overcome. And so having agreements like this makes it easier to clear those obstacles. In respect to the Katrina reimbursement, I know the City did receive reimbursement for that. 19 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 Generally, after a large disaster, a jurisdiction can expect to recoup about 80 percent of its total costs if their documentation is in proper order.
Have there ever been instances where Jersey has come to our aid, New Jersey?
There are instances. It typically happens on the bridges, like on the Walt Whitman or the Ben Franklin, where the Jersey first-responder resources and Philadelphia first-responder resources will meet in the middle of the bridge. And so that was why a part of this agreement does not interfere with that customary response. Now, as far as a larger response into Philadelphia or into New Jersey, I'm not aware of that.
I want to 20 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 clarify this. I didn't really ask him not to answer any questions because that's his prerogative. However, you know, to add to what Councilman Greenlee said earlier, during -- towards the end of Council, we're trying to get as many bills through fast, so we sort of had to squeeze this hearing in the middle of the Councilman's hearing, and we just wanted to make sure that everybody has a chance to understand what's going on and ask whatever questions they want to ask. Thank you.
And, Madam Chair, if I could. Madam Chair, if I could. If any of the Committee on Law and Government is listening, if they could come back down, 'cause we have to reestablish the quorum. Hopefully, we'll be finished this hearing soon and we'll be back into Law and Government. 21 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 I see two members right here.
All right. I don't believe there are any other questions for you. Are there any other questions by the committee members for this witness? (No further questions.)
Thank you. Thank you for testifying. Any other witness wishing to testify on this bill? (No response.)
Seeing none, this concludes the public hearing on the Committee of Public Safety, and we will now go into our public meeting. The Chair recognizes Councilman Greenlee.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that Bill No. 080425 be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation and move 22 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 further that the rules of Council be suspended so as to allow for first reading at our next session of Council. (Motion duly seconded.)
Okay. All those in favor signify by saying aye. All opposed? Okay, the ayes have it, and Bill No. 080425 will be reported out of this committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at our next session. This concludes the public hearing on Bill No. 080425, and the bill will be reported out of this committee. And this concludes our hearing. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Greenlee.
Thank 23 6/10/08 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE - BILL 080425 you.
Thank you, Marianne, for coming in to testify. Thank you. (Proceedings end at 12:05 p.m.) * * * 24 C E R T I F I C A T E I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings of the City of Philadelphia Council Committee on Public Safety are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me on Tuesday, June 10, 2008, and that this is a true and correct statement of same. __________________________________ JOSEPHINE CARDILLO Registered Professional Reporter (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)