The Office of Emergency Management recommends City Council approve an ordinance authorizing submission of a grant application to TDEM for generator projects through the HMGP program; declaring the City’s eligibility for such grants; and authorizing the Deputy Director of Emergency Management to act as signatory on grant applications.
The HMGP program, authorized by Section 404 of the amended Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, provides post-disaster funding for eligible mitigation projects in accordance with the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Unified Guidance and the 44 CFR § 206.430.
As the grant recipient for the HMGP program for the State of Texas, TDEM published a notice of funding opportunity on May 10th, 2021 for funding available for the HMGP program related to the presidentially declared DR-4586 Severe Winter Storms (Winter Storm Uri).
The “Emergency Services -Emergency Generator Project” (PROJECT) would provide backup power through the placement of emergency generators at four Police and/or fire facilities that currently do not have backup power capability.
The four locations are as follows:
- Houston Police Department (HPD) BRAC facility at: 7077 Perimeter Park Dr.
- Houston Fire Department (HFD) BRAC facility located at: 6903 Perimeter Dr., Houston
- HPD Lake Patrol Complex located at: 22619 W. Shorewood Loop, Huffman TX 77336
- HPD Mental Health Facility located at: 150 North Chenevert, Houston.
The Project would provide backup generators for fire stations and critical infrastructure such as the Department Operation Center increase the department’s capacity to respond to, and recover from, a disaster more quickly. During Hurricane Harvey, and more recently Winter Storm Uri, backup generator power enabled the Houston Fire Department to maintain fire stations open to the community for sheltering, distributing critical supplies, and short-term base-camps for regional partners in mutual aid efforts during the response and recovery phases. In addition, vital generator power fulfills the City of Houston’s Resilience plan by sustaining fire stations as “lifelines” for vulnerable populations and critical city services like emergency medical, security, food, water, hazardous materials, and communications.
There is a 25% local match requirement. Under the HMGP program, management costs of up to 5% may be reimbursed under the 100% federal share. If and when individual projects are selected for award, OEM and the responsible Departments will bring acceptance of the grant award(s) to City Council for approval with detail of the specific amounts and sources of the required local funding match.
The table below identifies the requested funding amount and anticipated local match requirement.
|
Project
|
Managing Department
|
Federal Request
|
Estimated Local Match
|
Total
|
|
Generators
|
Houston Fire and Police Departments
|
$1,126,181.25
|
$375,393.75
|
$1,501,575.00
|
FISCAL NOTE: No Fiscal Note is required on grant items.
____________________________
Thomas Munoz, MHS, MEM, MEP.
Deputy Director
Office of Emergency Management