2005/09/21 Council Agenda Packet

1_ i3 RESOLUTION No. A RESOLUTION DESIGNATING THE NATIONAL INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AS THE BASIS FOR ALL INCIDENT MANAGEMENT IN THE CITY OF EVERETT WHEREAS, adequate response to critical emergency incidents, whether natural or human caused,requires integrated professional management; and WHEREAS,the President of the United States issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-5,which states in part: "The objective of the United States Government is to ensure that all levels of government across the Nation have the capability to work efficiently and effectively together,using a [single,comprehensive] national approach to domestic incident management."; and WHEREAS,the federal and Washington State governments determined that the National Incident Management System ("NIMS") shall be the required emergency management system for all political subdivisions; and WHEREAS,the National Incident Management System will provide a consistent nationwide approach for federal,state, local and tribal governments to work together more effectively and efficiently to prevent,prepare for,respond to and recover from domestic incidents, regardless of cause, size or complexity; and WHEREAS,the National Incident Management System standardized procedures for managing personnel, communications, facilities and resources will improve the City's ability to integrate all response resources, maintain emergency responder safety,and streamline incident management processes; and WHEREAS,use of the same organizational structures, terminology,procedures and systems by all responders at all levels allows interoperability among jurisdictions and disciplines; and WHEREAS, Hurricane Katrina recently demonstrated the importance of interoperability across national, state, and local organizations; and WHEREAS,the Incident Command System components of the National Incident Management System are already an integral part of emergency management activities throughout the city. WHEREAS, the federal Department of Homeland Security directed that all federal preparedness assistance to states and local jurisdictions be tied to compliance with the requirements of NIMS and beginning Oct. 1,2005, all recipients of federal preparedness funds must adopt and use NIMS as a condition for the receipt of preparedness assistance funding, preparedness funds from all federal departments and agencies;