Mutual Aid Agreements:
Frequently Asked Questions

Why do we need regional mutual aid agreements?
The concept of regional mutual aid is based on consistency and simplicity and is borne out of the prospect of a large-scale incident (such as WMD) involving multiple jurisdictions in the response. Coordination of resources and response personnel across multiple counties will be more effective if similar agreements are in place, expectations are consistent, and reimbursement procedures have been negotiated with regional input prior to an event.

Who developed the mutual aid agreements?
The agreements were developed by The CAPCO Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF), which includes emergency management representatives from all 10 CAPCO counties. The HSTF designated a subcommittee to focus specifically on regional mutual aid agreements. The subcommittee worked with CAPCO staff and legal counsel to draft the Tier I and Tier II agreement templates using examples of agreements in other COGs, existing agreements within the CAPCO region, and the templates provided by the Attorney General’s Office as samples. The draft agreements were presented to the CAPCO Executive Committee for approval on October 15, 2003.

Why are there two agreements? What do Tier I and Tier II mean?
The Tier I Agreement is designed to serve as mutual aid documentation for an entire county and sets a consistent standard for response in that county. They can be thought of as “with in the county”. The Tier I Agreement eliminates the need for each city to have separate agreements with other cities in their county and instead provides one document for all parties in the county to sign.

The Tier II Agreement is designed to serve as mutual aid documentation for an entire region and can be thought of as “county-to-county”. The Tier II Agreement eliminates the need for cities in neighboring counties to have separate agreements with each other and instead provides one document for all counties in the region to sign.

The Tier I and Tier II documents are designed to “nest” with each other. For example, if two neighboring counties have both signed the Tier I Agreement and the Tier II Agreement then based on the “nesting” principal all cities in both counties have agreed to provide mutual aid assistance when possible to each other with out having to enter into separate agreements.

What if my jurisdiction already has a mutual aid agreement in place with another jurisdiction?
The regional mutual aid agreements are designed to enhance this region’s response capability and are not designed to supplant existing agreements. However, in the case of an existing agreement including components that conflict with the regional agreements, the regional agreements will prevail for guiding response.

Why is there a separate Mutual Aid Plan?
The CAPCO Mutual Aid Plan is designed to enumerate specific components of providing aid such as what types of resources are available to be shared, how will coordination of several simultaneous requests for aid be handled, what type of training will the responding personnel have, etc. These components may change as regional planning is enhanced or as inventories are adjusted, therefore the plan is a living document that will be frequently reviewed and updated and does not require elected official’s signatures each time that may occur.

Who can I contact if I have more questions?
You may reach Juliette Brown, CAPCO Regional Bioterrorism Coordinator at 512-916-6026 or jbrown@capco.state.tx.us.