Title
Consider a resolution authorizing the Mayor to execute an Amended and Restated Interlocal Agreement for the Austin Regional Intelligence Center (ARIC).
Body
Proposed is a restated and amended interlocal agreement establishing the Austin Regional Intelligence Center (ARIC) between the City of Round Rock, the City of Austin (lead agency), and 23 other public safety agencies in the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) region. ARIC originally was created as a Central Texas fusion center in 2010 through an agreement that establishes Austin Police Department as the operational lead agency as well as its fiscal agent for grant funding. Generally, fusion centers are state and locally operated hubs that facilitate the sharing of threat-related information among federal, state, local, and private sector partners. In 2012, an amendment to the original agreement was approved that added several new partner agencies and provided a mechanism for financial support from partner agencies into the future. In FY 2024, Round Rock's share of ARIC operations was $23,285.00, which is allocated in the Department's regular budget.
The proposed and amended agreement re-states the terms of the original and amended agreements but includes a change in how additional agencies are brought into the center as partners. Currently, additional partners only may be added by amending the original interlocal agreement, which then must be approved by all of the governing bodies of existing partner agencies. With 25 agencies already participating, growing participation in the center has become a very slow process. The change that is proposed would shift approval of new center partners to the center's Executive Board, on which Round Rock Police Department has a sitting member.
The new agreement streamlines an existing framework of agreements between the center's participants and makes it easier for additional agencies to participate in the center's activities.
Cost: $23,285.00
Source of Funds: General Fund