(1) Each political subdivision is within the jurisdiction of and served by the office of emergency management and by a local or interjurisdictional emergency management agency responsible for the coordination of disaster preparedness, prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery.
Each county shall maintain an emergency management agency or participate in alocal or interjurisdictional emergency management agency that, except as otherwise provided under this part 7, has jurisdiction over and serves the entire county.
The governor shall determine which municipal corporations need emergency management agencies of their own and require that they be established and maintained. The governor shall make such determination on the basis of the municipality's disaster vulnerability and capability of response and recovery related to population size and concentration. The emergency management agency of a county shall cooperate with the emergency management agencies of municipalities situated within its borders but shall not have jurisdiction within a municipality having its own emergency management agency. The office of emergency management shall publish and keep current a list of municipalities required to have emergency management agencies under this subsection (3).
The minimum composition of an emergency management agency is a director orcoordinator appointed and governed by the chief executive officer or governing body of the appointing jurisdiction. The director or coordinator is responsible for the planning, coordination, and execution of the local pre- and post-disaster services.
Any provision of this part 7 or other law to the contrary notwithstanding, the governor may require a political subdivision to establish and maintain an emergency management agency jointly with one or more contiguous political subdivisions if the governor finds that the establishment and maintenance of an agency or participation therein is made necessary by circumstances or conditions that make it unusually difficult to provide disaster prevention, preparedness, mitigation, response, or recovery services under other provisions of this part 7.
(Deleted by amendment, L. 2018.)
The mayor, chairman of the board of county commissioners, or other principal executive officer of each political subdivision in the state shall notify the office of emergency management of the manner in which the political subdivision is providing or securing disaster preparedness, prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery services, identify the person who heads the agency or agencies from which the services are obtained, and furnish additional information relating thereto as the office of emergency management requires.
Each local and interjurisdictional emergency management agency shall prepare andkeep current a locally defined or interjurisdictional emergency management plan for its area, including provisions for the preparation, prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery from emergencies and disasters. Existing locally adopted recovery plans, plans approved by the office of emergency management or the federal emergency management agency, and other relevant emergency plans may be incorporated by reference, but only if those plans are specifically identified and publicly available.
The local or interjurisdictional emergency management agency, as the case may be,shall prepare and distribute to all appropriate officials in written form a clear and complete statement of the emergency responsibilities of all local agencies and officials and of the disaster chain of command.
The sheriff of each county shall:
Be the official responsible for coordination of all search and rescue operations withinthe sheriff's jurisdiction;
Make use of the search and rescue capability and resources available within the county and request assistance from the office of emergency management only when and if the sheriff determines such additional assistance is required.
When authorized by the governor and executive director and approved by the director of the office of emergency management, expenses incurred in meeting contingencies and emergencies arising from search and rescue operations may be reimbursed from the disaster emergency fund.
Any person providing information to a local or interjurisdictional emergency management agency may request, in writing, that such information be disseminated only to persons connected with or involved in the preparation, update, or implementation of any emergency management plan, and said information shall thereafter not be released to any person without the expressed written consent of the person providing the information.
Source: L. 2012: Entire part RC&RE with relocations, (HB 12-1283), ch. 240, p. 1081, § 10, effective July 1. L. 2018: Entire section amended, (HB 18-1394), ch. 234, p. 1467, § 12, effective August 8.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 24-32-2107 as it existed prior to 2012.