12-75-118. Local and interjurisdictional offices of emergency management and services.

12-75-118. Local and interjurisdictional offices of emergency management and services. (a)(1) Each political subdivision within this state shall be within the jurisdiction of and served by the Division of Emergency Management and by a local office of emergency management or interjurisdictional office of emergency management. (2) A local office of emergency management or interjurisdictional office of emergency management shall be established as a public safety agency of its respective political subdivision or political subdivisions and shall be under the direction and control of the appropriate chief executive for the purposes of mitigation of, planning for, response to, and recovery from disaster and major emergency occurrences and for operation of public safety information networks. (b)(1) Each county within the state and those municipalities specifically designated by the Governor shall establish, fund, and maintain an established local office of emergency management or, as necessary, make arrangements through an interjurisdictional agreement to receive emergency management. (2) Unless a municipality has been specifically designated as a local office of emergency management, it shall receive emergency management support from the county or counties where its corporate limits are situated. (c)(1) The Governor shall determine if additional municipal local offices of emergency management or interjurisdictional offices of emergency management are required based on an assessment conducted by the Director of the Division of Emergency Management using one (1) or more of the factors enumerated in § 12-75-117(a). (2) The division shall publish and keep current a list of municipalities required to have local offices of emergency management or interjurisdictional offices of emergency management under this subsection. (d) The Governor may require a political subdivision to establish and maintain a local office of emergency management or an interjurisdictional office of emergency management jointly with one (1) or more contiguous political subdivisions if he or she finds that the establishment and maintenance of any agency or participation in an agency is made necessary by circumstances or conditions that make it unusually difficult to provide disaster or major emergency prevention, preparedness, response, or recovery services under other provisions of this chapter. (e) Each political subdivision that does not have a local office of emergency management and has not made arrangements to secure or participate in the emergency management of an agency shall have a liaison officer designated to facilitate the cooperation and protection of that political subdivision in the work of disaster and major emergency prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery. (f)(1) The chief executive of each political subdivision shall exercise comparable authority within his or her political subdivision, and within the limits of the Arkansas Constitution and laws of the state, as the Governor exercises over the state government during disasters and major emergencies. The chief executive shall ensure to the maximum extent possible, that his or her jurisdiction meets the minimum expected capability for disaster and emergency mitigation, planning, response, and recovery. (2) The chief executive of a political subdivision shall notify the division of the manner in which the political subdivision is providing or securing disaster planning and emergency management, provide a staffing pattern for the local office of emergency management, identify the person who heads the local office of emergency management, and furnish additional information relating thereto as the division requires. (g)(1) Each local office of emergency management and interjurisdictional office of emergency management shall prepare and keep current an emergency operations plan for its area. (2)(A) The emergency operations plan and all annexes must be approved by the local office of emergency management of the political subdivision and receive concurrence of the chief executive of the political subdivision. (B) The emergency operations plan shall then be submitted to the division for approval prior to implementation. (h) The local office of emergency management or interjurisdictional office of emergency management, as the case may be, shall prepare a clear and complete statement of the emergency responsibilities of all local agencies and officials and of the disaster and major emergency chain of command. This statement shall be distributed to all appropriate officials in written form. (i)(1)(A) The county judge of each county and the chief executive of those municipal jurisdictions specifically designated as established local offices of emergency management shall appoint an emergency management coordinator for their respective local offices of emergency management. (B) The written mutual interjurisdictional agreement between the participating jurisdictions in an interjurisdictional office of emergency management, executed under § 12-75-117(a), shall govern the appointment of the emergency management coordinator of the interjurisdictional office of emergency management. (C) The emergency management coordinator shall act for and on behalf of the appropriate chief executive to manage and coordinate the functions, duties, and activities of the established local office of emergency management. (2) The emergency management coordinator and such supporting staff of an established local office of emergency management as may be employed in part, or in whole, by state and federal emergency management program funds, shall be responsible for meeting all standards and requirements stipulated for funding under the programs. (3)(A) The director shall establish and periodically review criteria necessary to ensure compliance with minimum standards and requirements. (B) Failure to meet or maintain minimum standards and requirements or noncompliance with any part of this chapter by an established local office of emergency management may result in a decision by the director to reduce, withhold, or terminate partial or full funding for any or all local offices of emergency management programs in which the political subdivision participates or for which it may be otherwise eligible. (j)(1) Local offices of emergency management shall operate and maintain as a minimum an information systems link with the division. (2)(A) When authorized by the chief executive of the political subdivision and properly staffed, the local office of emergency management may operate a public safety communications center for the purposes of coordination, dispatch, and information services for local government public safety agencies and private or volunteer agencies with an emergency management mission. (B) The public safety communications center must be staffed by paid local office of emergency management public safety officers of the political subdivision and operate on a continuous basis if it is to serve as a law enforcement or fire dispatch and service center.