Consider and approve authorizing the Williamson County Office of Emergency Management Director to sign and execute Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with the Texas A&M Forest Service (TAFS) relating to participation in the State-wide Regional Incident Management Team (RIMT) and Disaster Recovery Task Force (DRTF).

Since 2013, the Williamson County's Office of Emergency Management has participated in local workgroups focusing on the goal of ensuring the sharing of resources on a regional and state-wide basis during a major incident or event.  Responders from the region have served in positions at various incidents and have been called upon to assist in several natural disasters that have affected our region and state over the years.  All of these activations have been reimbursable events with the home agency receiving payment for personnel and equipment utilized during these activations.  The attached MOU formalizes the working agreements between the State, home agency, and the employee who could be called into service.  OEM is seeking court consideration and approval for OEM Director Michael Shoe to sign and execute the MOA for his staff participating in the Regional Incident Management Team (RIMT).  It was noted previously that some reimbursement rates are at state rate rather than county rates.  We have found this to be common in most of our interactions with state or federal programs.  Sometimes the rates are above county rate, and sometimes they are below.  Generally, though they are at acceptable rates to sufficiently reimburse the county for any expenditures related to these mutual aid responses.  Uniformity in the agreements also helps us to avoid attempting to negotiate understandings with local counties or cities that we might be going to assist and trying to determine their rates.  We continue to try and streamline the process to avoid any additional workload on ourselves or other entities in the process.

There appear to be no issues or concerns with approving the recommended action, and it has been reviewed by appropriate legal and auditor staff. 

In the 2020, the Commissioners Court authorized OEM Director Michael Shoe to sign the initial agreements for 3 OEM employees. Once approved, this request will extend the MOU through 2026 for one individual from the Williamson County Office of Emergency Management.