Title
A MOTION urging jurisdictions throughout King County to jointly enter into a memorandum of understanding for the continuation of essential public services, incident management operations and support activities, after a regional emergency.
Body
WHEREAS, the mission of King County's office of emergency management is to provide leadership and high quality services that improve the safety of the citizens of the county, and fulfillment of the mission includes working with regional partners to develop and implement countywide strategies for coordinated emergency planning, response and recovery, and
WHEREAS, political subdivisions, and tribes, with territory in geographic King County are vulnerable to numerous emergency hazards, including earthquakes, flooding, pandemics and terrorism, and
WHEREAS, an emergency caused by a hazard could occur at any time with little or no warning, and
WHEREAS, such an emergency could cause numerous casualties, fatalities, displaced persons, property loss, damage to the environment and disruption of essential private and public services across multiple jurisdictions, and
WHEREAS, such an emergency would require prolonged incident management operations and support activities among multiple jurisdictions to coordinate policy decision making in the event the jurisdictions are affected by such an emergency, and
WHEREAS, in the event of an emergency, affected jurisdictions should consider a regional approach of incident management in collaboration with affected jurisdictions, with each jurisdiction implementing policy decisions in a coordinated manner with other affected jurisdictions during emergency response and recovery activities, and
WHEREAS, the Green River valley cities of Auburn, Kent, Renton and Tukwila, along with the county, have signed a model memorandum of understanding for coordinated policy decision making during an emergency, and
WHEREAS, the county recognizes the benefits of signing such a memorandum of understanding as strengthening regional cooperation and enhancing the coordination of policy decision making during an emergency, and
WHEREAS, the memorandum of understanding is not binding and imposes no enforceable obligations upon jurisdictions, and it is not intended to restrict the authority of any party to act independently and, should a situation arise where jurisdictions cannot reach a decision by consensus, any jurisdiction may make its own decision, and
WHEREAS, a joint memorandum of understanding provides for each party to perform emergency management functions, emergency response, and recovery within its jurisdiction, and
WHEREAS, a joint memorandum establishes a framework for two or more jurisdictions to coordinate policy decision making in the event they are affected by an emergency;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
All jurisdictions in King County are urged to enter into a memorandum of understanding for the continuation of essential public services, incident management operations and support activities, during and after a regional emergency.