10aTO:
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
BACKGROUND :
ATTACIlMENTS :
CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDUM
The Honorable Mayor & Members of the City Commission
Hector Mirabile, Ph.D., City Manager
January 17, 20 I I Agenda Item No.: I CJ C!..
2001
A Resolution urging Tier I designation for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale Urban
Area by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with regard to the
Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) Program.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Urban Area
Security Initiative (UASI) Program, provides homeland security grant funding
to address the unique planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercise
needs of high-threat, high-density urban areas, and assists them in building an
enhanced and sustainable capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to, and
recover from acts of terrorism. DHS, through the UASI Program,
distinguishes among urban areas as Tier I and Tier II. There are thirty one
areas and eleven are classified as Tier I and twenty are classified as Tier II
areas. While Miami-Fort Lauderdale area is in the highest risk location, its
classification may be reduced to Tier II. DHS allocates significantly more
funding to Tier I Urban Areas, including over eighty percent of total UASI
funding in FY20 I I.
None
1 RESOLUTION NO., ___ _
2
3 A Resolution urging Tier I designation for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale Urban Area
4 by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with regard to the Urban Area
5 Security Initiative (U ASI) Program.
6
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8 WHEREAS, the Mayor and City Commission desire to accept the grant from Miami-
9 Dade County by and through its Office of Grants Coordination; and
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11 WHEREAS, the Department of Homeland Security, through the Urban Area Security
12 Initiative Program, provides homeland security grant funding to address the uniql;le planning,
13 organization, equipment, training, and exercise needs of high-threat, high-density urban areas,
14 and assists them in building an enhanced and sustainable capacity to prevent, protect against,
15 respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism; and
16
17 WHEREAS, the Department of Homeland Security, through the UASI Program,
18 distinguishes among urban areas as Tier I and Tier II. There are thirty one areas and eleven are
19 classified as Tier I and twenty are classified as Tier II areas. While Miami-Fort Lauderdale area
20 is in the highest risk location, its classification may be reduced to Tier II; and
21
22 WHEREAS, the Department of Homeland Security allocates significantly more funding
23 to Tier I Urban Areas, including over eighty percent of total UASI funding in FY2011; and
24
25 WHEREAS, the Tier I designation is based on a DHS formula that assesses risk based
26 on factors such as threat, vulnerability, and consequence, taking into account population,
27 borders, economic impact, and critical infrastructure; and
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29 WHEREAS, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale UASI is the eighth-largest Metropolitan
30 Statistical Area (MSA) in the United States, with a permanent population of 5.6 million residents
31 living throughout Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe Counties, along with
32 millions of seasonal residents and tourist travelers; and
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34 WHEREAS, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale UASI includes over 110 municipalities, four
35 international airports, three major convention centers, and other critical utility and water
36 infrastructure; and
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38 WHEREAS, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale UASI encompasses four international seaports:
39 Port Everglades, Port of Key West, Port of Miami, and Port of Palm Beach, with the Port of
40 Miami the busiest passenger cruise ship port in the world; and
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42 WHEREAS, Port Everglades is the site of South Florida's primary fuel storage and
43 distribution center that supplies nearly one-fifth of the state's energy requirements; and
44
45 WHEREAS, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale UASI region includes Lake Okeechobee and
46 the Herbert Hoover Dike, which, if respectively contaminated or breached, would cause
1 enormous disruptions in drinking water supplies and agricultural irrigation with flooding that
2 would endanger South Florida and much of Central Florida; and
3
4 WHEREAS, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale UASI has both national and international
5 economic significance, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $252.6 billion, and is home to
6 the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, and is the future home of the
7 Permanent Secretariat of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas; and
8
9 WHEREAS, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale UASI is home to the National Access Point
10 (NAP) Center of the Americas, which is the primary internet and telecommunications
11 distribution center for all of Central and South America; and
12
13 WHEREAS, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale UASI is of immense significance to our
14 Nation's defense and homeland security, serving as the home to US Southern Command
15 (USSOUTHCOM), Homestead Air Reserve Base, US Coast Guard operations at Air Station
16 Miami and Station Miami Beach; and the National Hurricane Center; and
17
18 WHEREAS, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale UASI is home to the Turkey Point Nuclear
19 reactor; and
20
21 WHEREAS, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States cites
22 specific localities within the Miami-Fort Lauderdale UASI region through which some of the 9-
23 11 terrorists are known to have traveled; and
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25 WHEREAS, UASI funding is essential in providing funding for the training and
26 coordination of communication and response for over a hundred different fire, EMS, HazMat,
27 law enforcement, emergency operations and public health agencies within the Miami/Ft.
28 Lauderdale UASI; and
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30 WHEREAS, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale Urban Area is not currently designated as a Tier
31 I high-threat, high density urban area; and
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33 WHEREAS, the current UASI methodology utilized by DHS does not adequately
34 account for airport and sea borne threats, nor the presence of thousands of passengers filling
35 cruise ship beds; and
36
37 WHEREAS, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale Urban Area despite being among the top 13
38 U AS Is in the country, sustained a 44 percent reduction in funding from $17.1 million in FY20 1 0
39 to $9.6 million in FY2011, while the eleven Tier I Urban Areas sustained no reductions in
40 funding; and
41
42 WHEREAS, the City of South Miami as part of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale UASI, is
43 concerned that the Department of Homeland Security through the UASI Program, will continue
44 to dedicate insufficient resources to safeguard the Miami-Fort Lauderdale Urban Area; and
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WHEREAS, the City of South Miami has had to reduce training and computer
equipment upgrades in FY 2011 that provide increase efficiency and productivity as a result of
this reduced funding; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Homeland Security has been given the discretion in FY
2012 to allocate both overall UASI funding and the specific distribution ofUASI dollars to
individual UASI areas; unlike previously where Congress has annually set forth the overall
amount for the UASI program, and given DHS discretion solely to make Tier level rankings and
allocations to individual UASIs; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Homeland Security funding for FY 2012 for first-
responder programs including UASI is $1 billion less than for FY 2011.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOL YED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY
COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA THAT:
Section 1: The City of South Miami strongly encourages the Department of Homeland
Security to recognize the Miami-Fort Lauderdale Urban Area as a Tier I UASI funding recipient
within the UASI Program, and allocate adequate funding commensurate with its risk profile and
importance to the nation.
Section 2: The City of South Miami supports an allocation of FY 2012 Department of
Homeland Security funding for the Urban Area Security Initiative program that at a minimum
maintains individual UASI capabilities and critical functions.
Section 3: A copy of this resolution is forwarded to the offices of Senator Bill Nelson,
Senator Marco Rubio, and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Section 4: This resolution shall be effective immediately after the adoption hereof.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this __ , day of ___ ., 2012.
ATTEST:
CITY CLERK
READ AND APPROVED AS TO FORM
LANGUAGE, LEGALITY AND
EXECUTION THEREOF:
CITY ATTORNEY
3
APPROVED:
MAYOR
Commission Vote:
Mayor Stoddard:
Vice Mayor Newman:
Commissioner Palmer:
Commissioner Beasley:
Commissioner Harris: