Despite the phenomenal growth spurt, Pinal County has gone without additional, commensurate emergency management resources.
Sandwiched between the urban centers of Tucson and Phoenix, the county covers 5,300 square miles - an area the size of Connecticut - and has nine cities and towns within its incorporated boundaries. Largely rural and desert, the landscape now is dotted with homes as cities annex larger and larger swaths of land.
All this has strained emergency management resources, infrastructure and personnel. But officials say that with a stagnant economy due to the housing market slump, it's an ideal time to play catch-up.
A better flood watch system, expanded radio and communications capabilities for first responders, and additional law enforcement personnel are three areas that need the most attention, according to Pinal County officials.
Officer Shortage ... and More
"If I want 40 percent of my deputies' workday to be spent being proactive," Vasquez said, referring to officers patrolling and making contact with suspicious subjects to stop crime before it starts, "I need another 210 deputies."
Currently Vasquez has a burdened 250-officer force. For now, he depends on about 150 volunteers in search-and-rescue and citizen patrol programs to aid sheriff's deputies and other first responders should a disaster or other emergency occur.
"What we've done recently, because all law enforcement is under a [budget] deficit, is enter into intergovernmental agreements with all nine cities and the Arizona Highway Patrol to pool resources in the event of a disaster," Vasquez said. The agreement with the highway patrol guarantees Pinal additional buses, a helicopter and communications equipment it doesn't have now.
But manpower isn't the only need in Pinal County, where roads, telecommunications and flood control infrastructure are lagging. Funding is even further behind.
Atop the county's priority list is an expansion of its radio coverage to improve interoperability, which is the ability of first responders from different agencies to communicate with one another.
"We're trying to pedal fast during the slowdown in housing," said Jay Vargo, the county's IT radio communications director. "Dispatch needs to be connected, as do the computers in [sheriff's] patrol cars. We need to build towers to extend coverage to areas that are without coverage now.
"People move in, and it takes awhile to get the tax base," Vargo continued, "but police and fire services still need to be supported."
It will take from $1.5 million to $2 million to retrofit Pinal County's patrol cars with laptop computers, he said.
Currently Vargo's 2007-08 budget has $154,000 set aside to replace older radios and radio equipment. Similar amounts of money will be needed each of the next several years to support growth and introduce new technologies designed for voice and data applications, Vargo said.
As for the communications towers, the county has shared and co-located them at other public safety sites. But it's merely a quick fix: New towers to serve expanded growth will cost at least $500,000 apiece. Pinal County is exploring shared-cost options with other agencies to defray the cost.
"There are many dead spots in the county where the dispatcher can't hear the deputy and vice versa, and we're trying to tighten that up," Vasquez said. "We're trying to get laptop computers so our deputy can have text communication with an officer in the city of Casa Grande and at our dispatch. That's the difference between seconds and a half-hour to 45 minutes."
Budget Crunch
Like many jurisdictions nationwide, emergency management funding in Pinal County continues to be a problem.
"Pinal County is reviewing all components of its operations in order to accommodate the next wave of explosive growth coming our way," said David Snider, chairman of the Pinal County Board of Supervisors.
"It's two-pronged. It's looking at the system we have, and we're looking at revising to accommodate 21st-century growth," he continued. "The second part is the infrastructure issue - and that's a function of time and money."
Snider said the county must balance the cost of expanding the infrastructure that new growth demands with the expense of "normal" services that are government's everyday role.
In Arizona, some jurisdictions rely on developer impact fees to fill the coffer. They come from four sources: transportation and roads, public safety, open space, and water systems maintenance and development.
Developer impact fees may only be used for one-time equipment purchases - not for personnel or maintenance. So while a county may use impact fees to purchase a police car, the money cannot be used to fix patrol cars or hire additional officers.
Last year, Pinal County adopted impact fees and secured about $2 million in its first year of implementation, according to Snider.
The county has also embarked on a program with the private sector to provide a wireless umbrella for Pinal County by the end of 2009, Snider said. The Wi-Fi network is expected to cost $23 million, but officials say the cost will largely be covered by WI-VOD Corp., a private company. The county won't own the system, but it will be a subscriber.
Pinal County spent more than $266,000 on emergency management programs in 2007. About $69,000 of that amount came from an Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG). The EMPG is a long-standing federal program funded by the Department of Homeland Security that provides assistance to state and local personnel who do emergency planning, training and interdisciplinary coordination.
The bulk of the county's expenditure for emergency management was allocated for developing emergency plans for Pinal County's nine cities, cross-training public officials and city workers on the use of those plans, and paying for personnel costs for the county's three-person emergency management team. Other costs included response and recovery, as well as education and outreach to the public.
Pinal County expects to see its 2008 EMPG grant allotment double to nearly $140,000, but talk of eliminating the grants in 2009 have county officials worried.
A Nov. 26, 2007, document from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget indicated that the fiscal 2009 federal budget might slash funds for domestic homeland security and eliminate grant programs that benefit port security, transit security and emergency management - the EMPG is one of those priorities.
"It appears now that we may lose everything altogether if they abolish this in 2009," said Pete Weaver, emergency manager for Pinal County. "This will affect planning, training exercises, and ultimately response and recovery for every local agency nationwide. [It could] truly crush those already operating on a shoelace."
Weaver estimated the EMPG would need to rise to $200,000 annually for the county to properly serve its population.
"The county has stepped up," Weaver said, "and if the EMPGs would rise to $200,000, I'd be in good shape. We could expand to meet our needs. Right now, we're moving in the right direction, but if these cuts go through, we'll go backward."
According to a December 2007 Associated Press report, the Homeland Security Department has given $23 billion in antiterrorism grants to states and municipalities since the 9/11 attacks. Some critics claim the programs are pork barrel spending.
Not so, say Weaver and Vasquez.
"Only 30 of our [240] cars now have mobile data terminals," Vasquez said. "And the EMPG grants can do this. Losing the funding now would probably kill us. Right now, the economy is in a decline with the housing market taking a downturn, and the state is hurting because of it. Losing these grants now would really hinder us from achieving what we want to achieve."
In addition, plans to add and train deputies - and expand radio interoperability capabilities - would be curtailed if the grants fall through, Vasquez said.
County officials also are working to install an early warning flood detection system and a reverse 911 directory telephone system to call residents.
"One of the big things I'm worried about is that we don't have a warning system," said Elise Moore, Pinal County flood control section chief. "The rivers go across our roads ... and often when it's raining, we have to send people out to monitor the rivers because we don't have gauges out there to tell us where and how it's flooding. The state and other counties have this, but we don't."
The county will spend $100,000 this year to acquire the necessary computers and first four gauges to start the process.
"This new urban population has high expectations of us," Moore said. "They expect to be able to get to work in the morning, [whereas] in the more rural areas, they expected some surface flooding, or not to be able to use some of the streets some days. So we really need to be on top of where it's going to be flooding and address that right away. That's why it's so important to monitor flows."
Volunteer Involvement
In this time of rapid growth and scarce resources, Weaver found success in a program he initiated to bring together the county's volunteer organizations in order to pool limited resources and share knowledge with emergency management agencies after a disaster.
The Pinal County Regional Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) put together the various groups - the Salvation Army, United Way, Lutheran emergency ministries and others - to form a partnership for pre-planning for emergencies and disasters. The program is modeled after a similar one at the Arizona Division of Emergency Management.
"Each volunteer group brings unique opportunities and resources to the table, so a combined and more complete case management can better fulfill the needs of victims," Weaver said. "We also have a better view of the scarce resources so as to not duplicate services, formulate organized donations management and minimize waste."
Emergency Management has a seat at the table, and VOAD, in turn, is a part of the Pinal County Emergency Operations Center during emergencies and disasters.
"This is a huge reason why we have been successful in keeping up with the growth and emergency needs," Weaver said.
