County committee forwards dive team agreement to full board to speed post-disaster damage assessments
February 12, 2024 | Effingham County, Illinois
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The Effingham County legislative committee voted to forward an intergovernmental agreement to the full board that would authorize the county dive team to perform damage assessments after disasters for the City of Effingham, subject to city approval and review by the county attorney.
Josh, who provided the committee briefing, said the program would deploy teams with tablets to record damage — for example, "tree on a house, tree on a roof" — and upload the observations directly into a database so the city and county can move more quickly toward state declaration and resource requests. "And then that uploads immediately into the database and allows for them to start getting more resources that they need," he said.
Committee members discussed why the dive team was selected rather than EMA or fire personnel. Josh said the dive team has volunteer capacity and emergency-response training that could be redirected to assessments once it is safe to enter affected areas. He explained that operational control over where teams go would rest with the city fire department and emergency management, while the dive team commander would direct the dive teams' work on-scene.
A member pointed out a problem in section 2 of the draft agreement: a payment due date listed as 02/01/2024, a date that has already passed in the committee's discussion. Josh acknowledged the discrepancy and said the date could be modified when the board forwards the agreement; he suggested a future date (a "maybe March 1" timeframe) to replace the past date.
The committee conditioned forwarding on two items requested by a member: that the city formally approve the agreement and that the county attorney review any changes the city makes. The motion to forward the agreement to the full board was made and seconded and carried by voice vote; two members recorded abstentions on the final vote. Josh stated he would abstain from action because of his employment relationship with the city.
Next steps: the agreement will return to the board with the corrected payment date and after city and legal review.
Josh, who provided the committee briefing, said the program would deploy teams with tablets to record damage — for example, "tree on a house, tree on a roof" — and upload the observations directly into a database so the city and county can move more quickly toward state declaration and resource requests. "And then that uploads immediately into the database and allows for them to start getting more resources that they need," he said.
Committee members discussed why the dive team was selected rather than EMA or fire personnel. Josh said the dive team has volunteer capacity and emergency-response training that could be redirected to assessments once it is safe to enter affected areas. He explained that operational control over where teams go would rest with the city fire department and emergency management, while the dive team commander would direct the dive teams' work on-scene.
A member pointed out a problem in section 2 of the draft agreement: a payment due date listed as 02/01/2024, a date that has already passed in the committee's discussion. Josh acknowledged the discrepancy and said the date could be modified when the board forwards the agreement; he suggested a future date (a "maybe March 1" timeframe) to replace the past date.
The committee conditioned forwarding on two items requested by a member: that the city formally approve the agreement and that the county attorney review any changes the city makes. The motion to forward the agreement to the full board was made and seconded and carried by voice vote; two members recorded abstentions on the final vote. Josh stated he would abstain from action because of his employment relationship with the city.
Next steps: the agreement will return to the board with the corrected payment date and after city and legal review.
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