Council approves city emergency response plan

Springfield City Council has taken notice. Council passed a resolution Sept. 19 adopting the National Incident Management System.

The system is the result of a 2003 directive by President Bush calling on city, county and state governments to adopt uniform emergency procedures and training requirements, as well as a plan for dealing with terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

“Understanding issues of safety and security is something that we all bear some responsibility (for) as we go about our daily lives,” Councilman Bob Jones said at the meeting.

The plan includes 75 areas of preparedness; Springfield and the unincorporated parts of Greene County are prepared in all but 10 of those areas, according to Emergency Management Director Joye McElwee. Federal mandate gives local jurisdictions until Sept. 30, 2006, to meet preparedness obligations before running the risk of losing federal grant money.

While Springfield has agreed to meet the new requirements, the city hasn’t received its full portion of the federal homeland security grants intended to fund the system.

“Grants for 2005 were released to the state of Missouri – $48 million – but only part of that has filtered down,” McElwee said, adding that the money that has been handed out went to the state’s 28 counter-terrorism response units. “We don’t know when the rest is going to be broken up and offered for grants. If you look at the deadlines, that money should have been released in May of this year, so we’re all sitting in limbo, waiting.”

The plan focuses on standardization of responders’ vocabularies, certifications and communications, which federal officials feel are key to successful emergency response.

“They standardized the definition of a fire truck, an ambulance, everything, so that in a disaster situation, when you ask for that resource, whoever you’re asking will send exactly what you need,” McElwee said. “What you think you’re asking for, you’re going to get, because both of you will be on the same sheet of music.”

Everyone in the jurisdiction involved in emergency responses must meet the requirements for standardization, such as implementing an incident management system and having access to an automated system for checking necessary emergency supplies.

The mandate says that private companies, such as the hospitals that supply ambulance services, also must comply. McElwee said he doesn’t anticipate that will cause any problems because, so far, those companies have lived up to their end of the deal.

Also at the meeting:

• Council approved a $373 million 2005-2006 operating budget for City Utilities. The budget calls for $30 million more in spending than was in the budget for this year. Additionally, an increase in natural gas rates was approved. The change – an additional dollar for residential users plus an additional 1.25 cents per therm for all users – will take effect in April, to avoid raising prices during the peak natural gas usage period, officials have said. The average residential user can expect to see an additional $1.84 on the monthly gas bill, while the average commercial bill will increase $4.32 monthly.