Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael P. Callagy, County Manager
Subject: Amendment to Agreement with Innovative Emergency Management, Inc.
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing the County Manager to execute a second amendment to the agreement with Innovative Emergency Management, Inc., to extend the term of the agreement through December 31, 2020 and to increase the maximum amount authorized to be expended by $150,000, to an amount not to exceed $250,000.
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BACKGROUND:
In late March, the County sought proposals from firms interested in assisting the County in developing a long range COVID-19 strategic recovery plan (“Strategic Plan”). The County received five proposals, which were reviewed by a committee of staff members from the County and cities (“Review Committee”). The Review Committee recommended that the County contract with Innovative Emergency Management, Inc. (“IEM”) for these services and, on April 2, 2020, the County entered into an agreement with IEM for a term through August 31, 2020 and for an amount not exceed $75,000 (“Agreement”). On May 5, 2020, the contract was amended by the County Manager to increase by $25,000 the amount expendable under the agreement to an amount not to exceed $100,000, to cover costs associated with broader input from the community.
The Strategic Plan recently completed by IEM incorporated input from over 80 community members, including elected officials, city staff, a variety of community stakeholders and representatives from diverse communities throughout the County. Key recommendations in the Strategic Plan include the creation of a recovery oversight structure that integrates a Countywide COVID Recovery Council (“Recovery Council”), working committees and an equity oversight committee and development of a comprehensive recovery implementation program. The Recovery Council and the working committees will continue the Countywide collaboration around the COVID-19 recovery effort begun during the development of the Strategic Plan.
DISCUSSION:
In developing the Strategic Plan, IEM coordinated and facilitated multiple focus groups, interviewed community members and then consolidated all input into concise goals, objectives and action items, in seven different focus areas. The IEM team also researched and documented national best practices on many aspects of recovery and provided technical advice on modeling the COVID-19 virus surge. To tie together all the participant contributions, IEM developed common themes across all focus groups which can be used to guide implementation planning.
While much has been done, important Strategic Plan-related work remains. Next steps include review of the Strategic Plan recommendations and development of a recovery implementation plan.
Given the County’s positive experience working with IEM on the development of the Strategic Plan and the need to proceed quickly with COVID-19 recovery activities, staff recommends further amending the Agreement to extend the term through December 31, 2020 and further increase the maximum amount authorized to be expended by $150,000, to an amount not to exceed $250,000 (“Amendment”).
With this Amendment, IEM will further build on the community participation processes developed for the Strategic Plan and continue its support of up to five working committees. That support will include, but not be limited to, logistics, agenda development, meeting facilitation and follow-up documents and reports. IEM will also assist the staff working with the COVID Recovery Council and conduct additional research, organize presentations and contribute as needed to COVID-19 recovery related events and communications.
The Amendment and authorizing resolution have been reviewed and approved by County Counsel as to form.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The scope of work in Agreement, including the proposed Amendment, is a key component of the County’s COVID-19 response and will be submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) for a share of cost reimbursement. Any portion of the cost of the Agreement not eligible for FEMA reimbursement shall be covered by available CARES Act funding.