A request to add five staff members to Montgomery County?s Homeland Security Department met stiff opposition Wednesday in the County Council?s Homeland Security Committee.
“I?m not considering any new positions,” said Council President George Leventhal. “Work will always expand to fill the number of positions you have available.”
The department has 71 employees. But without the extra staff, Homeland Security chief Gordon Aoyagi said, the department could be fined by the county fire marshal for not adequately monitoring fire alarms in county buildings.
The agency has asked for $6 million next year, a 20 percent budget increase over the current year.
The agency, formerly the county?s building security division, has always monitored fire alarms in county buildings, Aoyagi said. However, the county?s fire marshal has threatened to cite the department for not adequately staffing that program. The fire marshal requires that at least two people be on duty around the clock to do the monitoring.
Council members indicated they may need to transfer that responsibility to the Fire and Rescue Service, though they have no information on how much such a move would cost.
The agency also monitors security video feeds for much of the county?s high-tech industry.
“As we become more and more sophisticated and more buildings move to controlled-access security, there are more of these systems being piped into our security monitors,” Aoyagi said.
The committee decided not to recommend the additional staff proposed in the 2007 budget.
