TITLE
The Mayor and City Council shall discuss and possibly take action to ratify the submission of a grant application (EMW-2015-FH-00425) to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program for the addition of 2 Firefighters to MFD in the amount of $333,864. Discussion and Action.
AGENDA ITEM DESCRIPTION
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA), Grant Programs Directorate (GPD) is responsible for the implementation and administration of the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program. The purpose of SAFER Grants is to provide funding directly to fire departments and national, state, local, or tribal organizations representing the interests of volunteer firefighters to assist them in increasing the number of firefighters to help communities meet industry minimum standards and attain 24-hour staffing to provide adequate protection from fire and fire related hazards, and to fulfill traditional missions of fire departments. FEMA has an estimated $340,000,000 in program funding for the hiring, retention and recruitment of firefighters.
To achieve this purpose, SAFER is a competitive/discretionary grant program comprised of two categories:
1. Hiring of Firefighters Grants provide financial assistance to help fire departments rehire firefighters who have been laid off, retain firefighters facing imminent layoffs, fill positions that were vacated through attrition, or hire new firefighters. The goal is to assist departments to improve or restore staffing levels to ensure they have adequate personnel to respond and safely perform at incident scenes, providing protection from fire and fire-related hazards in their communities. This category provides two-year grants to assist fire departments by paying the salaries and benefits of the SAFER-funded positions.
2. Recruitment and Retention of Vol...
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