(A) Generally.
(1) The County Emergency Response Team is established.
(2) The functions of the County Emergency Response Team shall be under the direction of the County Emergency Management Agency, which, as an agency of the county, is responsible to the Board of County Commissioners.
(3) The County Emergency Response Team shall adopt by-laws and standard operating procedures, which will be subject to final approval before implementation by the County Emergency Management Agency Advisory Council and the Board of County Commissioners.
(4) The County Emergency Response Team shall coordinate all emergency response procedures with the Director of the County Emergency Management Agency, or, when appropriate, by state or county statute, the Board of County Commissioners, and shall act as a liaison for emergency response activities with the public, local businesses, and public and private agencies.
(5) Nothing in this resolution shall be construed to relieve the Board of County Commissioners from its statutory role as the executive body of county specifically including its authority to provide and control emergency services to the citizens of the county.
(B) Reimbursement for operations of County Emergency Response Team.
(1) For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
PERSON. Individual, partnership, co-operative, limited liability company, firm, company, corporation, association, trust, estate, government entity, or any other legal entity or its representatives, agents, or assigns.
RESPONSE. Any and all instances when one or more members of the County Emergency Response Team are called out to the scene of an incident involving the presence or suspected presence of dangerous, hazardous, or toxic substances.
RESPONSIBLE PARTY. The person liable for reimbursement for costs and expenses associated with the operation of the County Emergency Response Team.
SUBSTANCES. Considered as dangerous, hazardous, or toxic are those which are:
1. Listed in the latest edition of the United States Department of Transportation’s Guidebook for Hazardous Materials Incidents;
2. Listed in the latest edition Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials by H. Irving Sax and contain the terms dangerous, hazardous, or toxic in the THR (Summary Toxicity Statement), the Disaster Hazard Statement, the Explosion Hazard Statement, or the Acute Toxicity Statement; or
3. Listed in the latest edition of the Condensed Chemical Dictionary by Gessner G. Hauley and the words “hazardous” or “toxic” are used in the “Hazard” explanation used to categorize the substance.
(2) (a) Any person that uses, stores, handles, transports, or disposes of any dangerous, hazardous, or toxic substances or materials, or any substances or materials reasonably believed to be dangerous, hazardous, or toxic in such a fashion or manner so as to necessitate a response for paying the costs and expenses identified in this section no later than 30 days following any reimbursement response of the County Emergency Response Team.
(b) The Director of the County Emergency Management Agency shall prepare a billing pursuant to this section and shall submit the billing to the party responsible for paying the costs and expenses identified in this section no later than 30 days following any reimbursement response of the County Emergency Response Team.
(c) The person responsible for reimbursing the county under the provisions of this section shall tender payment in satisfaction of the aforementioned billing no later than 30 days following receipt of the billing prepared and issued by the Director of the County Emergency Management Agency.
(d) If a person objects to the aforementioned billing by the Director of the County Emergency Agency, the responsible party must file with the county Emergency Management a written objection to the billed amount.
1. Upon receipt of such written objection, the County Emergency Management Agency Advisory Council shall place the matter on the agenda of its next regularly scheduled meeting and shall allow the responsible party an opportunity to object to the billing. The County Emergency Management Agency Advisory Council shall then deliberate and issue a written opinion concerning the appropriateness of the billed amount.
2. If the responsible party objects to the decision of the County Emergency Management Advisory Council, a petition requesting judicial review of the decision of the County Emergency Management Agency Advisory Council shall be filed with the county’s circuit court no later than 30 days from the date of the decision of the County Emergency Management Advisory Council. The county’s circuit court judge shall conduct a hearing on the petition as expeditiously as is consistent with the court’s calendar. The decision of the county’s circuit court judge shall be final unless the responsible party or the County Emergency Management Agency Advisory Council appeals that decision through the appellate procedure for appeal of any civil matter.
(3) (a) Any time the County Emergency Response Team is called to the scene of an accident, the responsible party shall reimburse the county (at replacement cost) for any Emergency Response Team equipment or supplies which are damaged, lost, spent, destroyed, or rendered irreparable or “used up” in responding to or managing the incident; provided that any reimbursement under this paragraph shall be limited to equipment and supplies which are listed on the equipment and supply inventory list of the County Emergency Response Team, which shall be kept on file at the office of the Director of the County Emergency Management Agency, and made available for public inspection during normal business hours of the County Emergency Management Agency.
(b) 1. In addition to the reimbursement obligations contained division (B)(3)(a) above, the responsible party shall be billed by the Director of the County Emergency Management Agency at the rate of $75 per hour for each member of the County Emergency Response Team who is active at the site, and, in addition, for initial response with a hazardous material response unit or a rescue ambulance unit dispatched on a hazardous material incident:
a. Except a command/control vehicle: $350 per response vehicle; and
b. For each command/control vehicle: $150 per vehicle.
2. For each hour or fraction thereof as on-scene assistance:
a. Except a command/control vehicle: $200 per response unit; and
b. For each command/control vehicle: $100 per vehicle.
3. In addition to all the foregoing amounts, the responsible party shall pay the costs of collection, including attorney fees, if suit is necessary to collect such amounts.
(4) In the event that the County Emergency Response Team responds to an incident outside of the boundaries of the county, the responsible party shall be billed the sum of $2,000 per incident response, in addition to the amounts set forth in division (B)(3) above. The County Emergency Response Team shall not be held liable for anything that goes wrong in providing such aid, including: liability; worker’s compensation; property damage; loss; bodily injuries and/or death. The party requesting aid shall take full responsibility for the County Emergency Response Team.
(5) By signing the mutual aid agreement, the requesting party accepts these terms. The provisions of division (B)(2) above shall also be applicable to this out-of-county assessment.
(6) In the event that any portion of this section is declared invalid, unconstitutional or otherwise null and void, the County Council specifically intends that the remaining portions hereof shall continue to have full force, effect, and validity until or unless declared otherwise.
(Prior Code, § 36.052) (Res. 96-06, passed 6-3-1996; Ord. 98-3, passed 2-20-1998) Penalty, see § 38.999