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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMunicipal Mutual Aid and Assistance®a ~;~ RESOLUTION 2008-809 ADOPTED DOC ID: 4187 THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION N0.2008-809 WAS ADOPTED AT THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE SOUTHOLD TOWN BOARD ON AUGUST 26, 2008: RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Southold hereby authorizes and directs Supervisor Scott A. Russell to execute the Municipal Mutual Aid and Assistance Agreement between the municipal corporations of the Town of Southampton, Town of Riverhead, Town of East Hampton, Town of Southold, Town of Shelter Island, and the Village of Southampton, Village of East Hampton, Village of Ouogue, Village of Westhampton Beach and the Village of Sag Harbor, in connection with providing mutual aid in the event of a disaster or emergency, for a term of five years, subject to the approval of the Town Attorney. {~~~~'e~i'' "E''li~za~~be~th A. Neville Southold Town Clerk RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Vincent Orlando, Councilman SECONDER: Albert Krupski Jr., Councilman AYES: Ruland, Orlando, Krupski Jr., Wickham, Evans, Russell ORIGINAL Municipal Mutual Aid and Assistance Agreement Town of Riverhead Police Department, Town of East Hampton Police Department, Town of Southold Police Department, Town of Shelter Island Police Department and the Village of Southampton Police Department, Village of East Hampton Police Department, Village of Quogue Police Department, Village of Westhampton Beach Police Department and the Village of Sag Harbor Police Department. This Agreement, made the ~ day of S ,m ~pil , ~lX? ~, between the municipal corporations of the Town of Riverhead, Town of East Hampton, Town of Southold, Town of Shelter Island and the Village of Southampton, Village of East Hampton, Village of Quogue, Village of Westhampton Beach and the Village of Sao Harbor. Legislative Intent The safety and well being of all the residents of and visitors to the East End Towns and Villages is of the utmost importance for the municipalities. It remains necessary for the Town and Villages to act in a fiscally responsible manner. As means of accomplishing both objectives, the East End Towns and Villages are entering into a Municipal Aid and Assistance Agreement with each other. In the advent of a local disaster, civil disturbance or any other event where it may be necessary to have additional resources available, while it is not fiscally sound to stock pile equipment or to hire additional personnel solely for the purposes of assisting at the time of a disaster or event, a Municipal Mutual Aid and Assistance Agreement between the aforementioned municipal corporations will allow them to use their resources at such times. The ability to use those resources only when needed and without financial liability at other times provided an opportunity to the municipalities for better service, while limiting financial impact to only those times of absolute need. ~/HEREAS, the State of New York is vulnerable to a variety of disasters and emergencies; and WHEREAS, in addition to the state, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has recognized the importance of the concept of written mutual aid agreements between all levels of government to facilitate reimbursement; and WHEREAS, pursuant to the Constitution of the State of New York, municipalities are allowed to enter into mutual aid and assistance agreements, which may include provisions for the furnishing and exchanging of supplies, equipment, facilities, personnel and services during an emergency or event; and WHEREAS, the municipalities which have chosen to become signatories to this Agreement wish to provide mutual aid and assistance amongst one another; now THEREFORE, pursuant to Article IX, Section I of the Constitution of the State of New York, these municipalities agree to enter into this Agreement for mutual aid and assistance, with this Agreement embodying the understandings, commitments, terms and conditions for said aid and assistance, as follows: SECTION I DEFINITION A. "Agreement" shall mean this document, the "Municipal Mutual Aid and Assistance Agreement". B. "Aid and Assistance" shall include, but not limited to, personnel, equipment, facilities, services, supplies and other resources. C. "Authorized Representative" shall mean a party's employee, who has been authorized in writing by that party, to request, offer or otherwise provide assistance under the terms of this Agreement. The list of authorized representatives for each party executing this Agreement shall be attached to the executed copy of this Agreement. In the event of a change in personnel, unless otherwise notified, the presumption will be that the successor to that position will be the authorized representative. The authorized representative shall have the ability to commit the resources of its municipality without further authorization from any other source. D. "Disaster" means occurrence or immanent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, loss of life or property resulting from any natural or man- made causes, including but not limited to fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, high-water, landslide, wind, storm, wave action, volcanic activity, epidemic, air contamination, bridge failure or bridge collapse. E. "Event" means any occurrence which would require additional resources. F. "Municipality" means a public corporation as defined in Subdivision 1, Section 66 of the General Construction Law and a special district as defined in Subdivision 16 of Section 102 of the Real Property Tax Law. G. "Party" means a municipality that has adopted and executed this Agreement. H. "Provider" means the party that has received a request to furnish aid and assistance to the party in need (the "Recipient"). L "Recipient" means the party setting forth a request for aid and assistance to another party. SECTION II INITIAL RECOGNITION OF PRINCIPAL BY ALL PARTIES A. As this is a reciprocal contract, it is recognized that any party to this Agreement may be requested by another party to be a Provider. It is mutually understood that each party's foremost responsibility is to its own citizens. The provisions of this Agreement shall not be construed to impose an unconditional obligation on any party to this Agreement to provide aid and assistance pursuant to a request from another party. Accordingly, when aid and assistance have been requested, a parry may in good faith withhold resources in order to provide reasonable and adequate protection for its own community, by deeming itself unavailable to respond and so inform the party setting forth the request. B. Given the finite resources of any jurisdiction and the potential for each party to be unavailable for aid and assistance at a given point in time, the parties mutually encourage each other to enlist other entities in aid and assistance efforts and to enter into such agreements accordingly. Concomitantly, the parties fully recognize that there is a highly meritorious reason for entering into this Agreement and accordingly shall attempt to render assistance in accordance with the terms of this Agreement to the fullest extent possible. C. Pursuant to the Constitution of the State of New York and as elaborated upon in Section IX of this Agreement, all functions and activities performed under this Agreement are carried out for the benefit of the general public and not for the benefit of any specific individual or individuals. Accordingly, this Agreement shall not be construed as or deemed to be an agreement for the benefit of any third parties or persons and no third persons shall have any right of action under this Agreement for any cause whatsoever. All immunities provided by law shall be fully applicable as elaborated upon in Section VII of this Agreement. SECTION III PROCEDURES FOR REQUESTING ASSISTANCE A. Aid and assistance shall not be requested unless the resources available within the stricken area are deemed inadequate by the Recipient. When Recipient becomes affected by a disaster or an emergency event and deems its resources inadequate, it may request aid and assistance by communicating the request. A verbal request shall be followed as soon as practicable by a written confirmation of that request. All requests for aid and assistance shall be transmitted by the party's "Authorized Representative" as set forth below. B. All communications shall be conducted directly between Recipient and Provider. C. Provider's Traveling Employee Needs -Unless otherwise specified by Recipient or agreed to by the parties in writing, it is mutually understood that Recipient will provide for the needs of Provider's traveling employees. Recipient shall pay for all reasonable out-of-pocket costs and expenses of Provider's personnel including, without limitation, transportation expenses for travel to and from the stricken area. Further, Recipient shall house and feed Provider's personnel at its (Recipient's) sole cost and expense. If Recipient cannot provide such food and /or housing at the disaster area, Recipient shall specify in its request for assistance that personnel will be required to service their own needs. SECTION IV PROVIDERS ASSESSMENT OF AVAILABILITY OF RESOURCES AND ABILITY TO RENDER ASSISTANCE When contacted by the Recipient, Provider's authorized representative shall assess Provider's own local situation to determine available personnel, equipment and other resources. If Provider's authorized representative determines that Provider has available resources, Provider's authorized representative shall so notify Recipient and as soon as practicable, provide written verification of the response to the request. SECTION V SUPERVISON AND CONTROL Provider shall designate supervisory personnel amongst its employees sent to render aid and assistance to Recipient. As soon as practicable, Recipient shall assign work tasks to Provider's supervisory personnel and unless specifically instructed otherwise, Recipient shall have the responsibility for coordination between Provider's supervisory personnel and Recipient. Recipient shall provide necessary credentials to Provider's personnel authorizing them to operate on behalf of the Recipient. Based upon such assignments set forth by Recipient, Provider's supervisory personnel shall: have the authority to assign work and establish work schedules for Provider's personnel; 2. maintain daily personnel time records, material records and a log of equipment hours; 4 3. report work progress to Recipient at mutually agreed upon intervals. SECTION VI LENGTH OF TIME FOR AID AND ASSISTANCE RENEWABILITY -RECALL A. Unless otherwise provided, the duration of the Provider's assistance shall be for an initial period of up to twenty-four (24) hours, starting from the time of the call for assistance until the personnel go out of service for the Recipient. Thereafter, assistance may be extended in increments agreed upon by the authorized representatives of the Provider and Recipient. B. As noted in Section II of this Agreement, Provider's personnel, equipment and other resources shall remain subject to recall by Provider to provide for its own citizens if circumstances so warrant. Provider shall make a good faith effort to provide at least eight (8) hours advance notification to Recipient of Provider's intent to terminate the assistance, unless such notice is not practicable, in which case as much notice as is reasonable under the circumstances shall be provided. SECTION VII RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF PROVIDER'S EMPLOYEES Whenever Provider's employees are rendering aid and assistance pursuant to this Agreement such employees shall remain the responsibility of the Provider and retain the same powers, duties, immunities and privileges they would ordinarily possess if performing their duties within the geographic limits of Provider. SECTION VIII PROVIDER'S EMPLOYEE WORKERS' COMPENSATIION Recipient shall not be responsible for reimbursing any amounts paid or due as benefits to Provider's employees due to personal injury or death occurring during the periods of time such employees are engaged in rendering of aid and assistance under this Agreement. It is mutually understood that Recipient and Provider shall be responsible for payment of such Workers' Compensation benefits only to their own respective employees. SECTION IX HOLD HARMLESS Each party (as Indemnitor) agrees to protect, defend, indemnify and hold the other party (as Indemnitee) and its officers, employees and agents, free and harmless from and against any and all losses, penalties, damages, assessments, costs, charges, professional fees and other expenses or liabilities of every kind and arising out of or relating to any and all claims, liens, demands, obligations, actions, proceedings or causes of action of every kind in connection with or arising out of Indemnitor's negligent acts, errors and/or omissions. Indemnitor further agrees to investigate, handle, respond to, provide defense for and defend any such claims, etc, at Indemnitor's sole expense and agrees to bear all other costs and expenses related thereto. To the extent that immunity does not apply, each party shall bear the risk of its own actions, as it does with its day to day operations and determine for itself what kinds of insurance and in what amounts it should carry. Each party understands and agrees that any insurance protection obtained shall in no way limit the responsibility to indemnify, keep and hold harmless that other parties to this Agreement. SECTION X AMENDMENTS This Agreement may be modified at any time upon the mutual written consent of the parties. Additional municipalities may become parties to this Agreement upon the acceptance and execution of this Agreement. SECTION XI DURATION OF AGREEMENT -RENEWAL -TERMINATION This Agreement shall be binding for not less than five (5) years from its effective date; unless terminated upon at least sixty (60) days advance written notice by a party as set forth below. Thereafter, this Agreement shall continue to be binding upon the parties in subsequent years, unless cancelled by written notification served personally or by registered mail to the other parties to the Agreement. The withdrawal shall not be effective until sixty (60) days afrer notice thereof has been sent. A party's withdrawal from this agreement shall not affect a party's reimbursement obligations or any other liability or obligation under the terms of this agreement incurred hereunder. Once the withdrawal is effective, the withdrawing entity shall no longer be a party to this Agreement but this Agreement shall continue to exist among the remaining parties. SECTION XII HEADINGS The headings of various sections and subsections of this Agreement have been inserted for convenient reference only and shall not be construed as 6 modifying, amending or affecting in any way the express teens and provisions of this Agreement. SECTION XIII SEVERABILITY -EFFECT ON OTHER AGREEMENTS A. Should any clause, sentence, provision, paragraph or other part of this Agreement be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder of this Agreement. B. In the event that parties to this Agreement have entered into other aid and assistance agreements, those parties agree that, to the extent a request for aid and assistance is made pursuant to this Agreement, those other aid and assistance agreements are superceded by this Agreement. SECTION XIV EFFECTIVE DATE This Agreement shall take effect upon its approval by the entity seeking to become a signatory to this Agreement and upon proper execution hereof. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, each of the parties have caused this Municipal Mutual Aid and Assistance Agreement to be duly executed in its name and on their behalf by its' Chief Executive Officer, who has signed accordingly, with seals affixed and attested with concurrence of a majority of its governing board, as of the date set forth in this Agreement. ;. of East Hampton ~'Iii~(Car male, Superdsor, Town of Riverhead I~ James . Dou~terty. Supervisor, own of helter Island Scott A. Russell, Supervisor, Town of Southold Village of East Hampton Date Date s 1 ~~~= Date 9.Ti D~- ate "( 9 0 ate /~- ~.%/~ ate Gregory en i Mayor, Village of Sag Harbor J; ~L ark Epley ayor, Village of Southampton --- ~1'4-E ~ _ ~ ~~ Conrad W. Teller, Mayor, Village of Westhampton Beach Dat S z. a2s Date S /s o~ Date