City gets help on hazmat grant from Little Rock

The city will recoup most of the State Homeland Security grant Garland County returned to the state, City Manager David Frasher told the Hot Springs Board of Directors Tuesday night.

County Judge Rick Davis notified the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management in December that he was returning the $253,951 grant awarded in fiscal year 2016. About $203,000 of it was earmarked for the Hot Springs Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials/Weapons of Mass Destruction response team, the only one in the southwest part of the state.

Frasher told the board the city of Little Rock has agreed to administer the grant, giving the city $126,951 for equipment and training related to hazardous materials response.

“There’s no hard feelings if (Davis) doesn’t want to do it, but I’m really happy the city of Little Rock was willing to step in and help us out,” Frasher said.

The grant terms require the county, as the grant administrator, to pay for the equipment and training before the state will reimburse it, which Davis said put a strain on county finances. The county allocated the funding for the fiscal year

2014 and 2015 grants from the part of its General Fund that pays the county’s share of district court and animal services expenses and the county’s $75,000 contract for services with the Hot Springs Metro Partnership.

The Garland County Finance Committee tabled the funding in November, citing the county’s responsibility to disburse all of the funds before it gets reimbursed. The letter Davis sent ADEM in December also referenced the city’s removal of

$40,000 from its 2017 budget that had gone to the Garland County Department of Emergency Management during previous budget cycles. Without the contribution, the county said it would be difficult to purchase, inventory and track the specialized equipment the grant funds provide.

Hot Springs Fire Chief Ed Davis said the fire department won’t receive $77,000 for Arkansas Wireless Information Network-compatible radios. All other equipment listed in the grant application will be purchased, he said.

Chief Davis said the city has signed a one-year memorandum of understanding with Little Rock to administer the grant. Extending the agreement will depend on how well the arrangement works, he said.

Chief Davis and Assistant City Manager/City Clerk Lance Spicer met with representatives of other HMWMD regional response teams Tuesday in Jacksonville to decide how to use the grant funds the county declined. Spicer said because the county didn’t accept the grant, Little Rock has to administer it on the city’s behalf.

“Little Rock will make the purchases and request reimbursement from (ADEM),” Spicer said.

Chief Davis said the equipment is deployed at large gatherings, such as the annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick Day parade and busy days during the live racing meet at Oaklawn Racing and Gaming. The Joint Hazardous Assessment Team within the larger HMWMD team uses it to detect hazardous materials that may not be apparent to the senses.

“If a radioactive device were being employed, you wouldn’t be able to see it, smell it or taste it, but a lot of damage could occur to people,” Chief Davis said.

Spicer said the crowds Oaklawn and the convention center attract are why the southwest region’s response team is located in Hot Springs.

“That’s the No. 1 and 2 reasons to have the response team,” he said. “Outside of any Razorback football game, Oaklawn Racing and Gaming is kind of the next-biggest ticket in town.”

Frasher thanked his counterpart in Little Rock, City Manager Bruce Moore, for agreeing to administer the grant but lamented that the city won’t receive all of the funds intended for it.

“The bad news is that $77,000, or 38 percent of the original grant application, was allocated to other hazmat chapters around the state far from here,” he told the board.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, $402 million in State Homeland Security grants were available in fiscal year 2016.