Dear Mayor:

As you may know, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP) recently allocated $14,222,000 to New Jersey under the federal FY2003 State Homeland Security Grant program (SHSGP). The grant program is administered by the New Jersey Department of Law & Public Safety (DL&PS). In order to secure our state’s formula award amount, DL&PS staff will file the state’s grant application with the ODP by the April 22, 2003 deadline.

One of the major purposes of this grant program is to enhance the capability of state and local agencies to prevent and respond to incidents of terrorism involving the use of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive weapons by allowing for the purchase of advanced types of equipment to enhance homeland security. A portion of the overall FY2003 funding, $7,984,000, is required to be passed-through to municipal and county first responder entities to purchase first responder equipment. In an effort to provide your municipality with an understanding of how this grant program will be administered, please note the following summary information which should also be shared with members of your municipal Office of Emergency Management, police and fire departments, and your EMS units.

• The DL&PS will provide each county OEM with a formula allocation for distribution, each county OEM will be responsible for administering the program.
  
• Each county OEM will be required to identify grant recipients based upon the county Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). Municipalities must have their EOPs up to date and approved in order to receive funding under this program.
  
• Equipment purchases must be consistent with the ODP’s FY2003 Standardized Equipment List (SEL). DL&PS will pre-identify "appropriate" equipment, by/for each discipline, to further ensure interoperability and strategic acquisition of equipment. The SEL can be viewed on page 34-43 at the following website: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/odp/docs/ODPApplication.pdf
  
• First responder entities identified to receive funding will be reimbursed by the county OEM (upon proof of payment) for equipment purchases made under the program.
  
• Each county OEM will be required to identify grant recipients from the following first responder disciplines: Police (includes prosecutors offices), Fire (includes fire police), EMS, and HazMat.
  
• Matching funds are not required for this program
  
• The DL&Ps will not accept requests for funding directly from municipalities.

Staff from our department recently briefed the 21 county OEM coordinators about the above information. In light of this, questions concerning the implementation of this program should be addressed to your county OEM coordinator (see attached). You may also contact your Regional State Office of Emergency Management point of contact (see attached).

I trust the above information will prove helpful to your municipality and provide you with a basic understanding of how this grant program will be administered. If you should have any other questions concerning matter, please feel free to contact our department’s Grants Coordinator Steven Talpas at (609) 984-0634.

Sincerely yours,

 

Peter C. Harvey
Acting Attorney General

Attachments
c. Administrator Thomas J. O’Reilly
Director Sid Casperson
Major Dennis DelFava, State OEM
William Dressel, Executive Director, N.J. State League of Municipalities
Harry J, Shepherd, President, County OEM Coordinators