34 / 200
34
E
UR
A
MERICA
governments. Nonetheless, every municipality in the same
county should coordinate its EM activities with the county EM
agency. Each municipal EM plan has to be consistent with, and
subject to, the applicable county EM plan. Therefore, in EM,
the county serves as the leader of its municipal governments. In
general, municipalities within the county usually work closely
with county government but still own some level of autonomy
during normal times and this pattern is most obvious in big cities.
A big city EM deputy points out that a big city tends to be more
self-supported (ID14). It will not always depend on the county
for everything. However, during a disaster, a county
government often views other municipalities as a part of the
county government, and the relationship between a county and
its municipalities may become more directive in disasters.
Local Florida governments collaborate with other local
governmental agencies for several reasons: 1) to follow legal
requirements; 2) to receive grants; 3) to seek resources; 4) to
provide resources; 5) to exchange information and intelligence;
and 6) to share similar risks. According to the interview
responses, legal requirement is a critical rationale used to
explain horizontal-interlocal collaboration (ID3-1 & ID11).
The responses indicated that
coordination between county and
its municipalities
. Moreover, the statewide mutual aid system
also forces local governments to collaborate with each other
when a large scale disaster strikes the State of Florida.
With respect to grant purpose, local emergency managers
in city and county governments both mentioned that they
collaborate with each other when applying for federal and state
funding (ID8 & ID15-2). It is especially beneficial for small
counties and small cities to work with their neighboring local
governments to design a regional project. They can propose a
more influential and attractive project and spend less time and
effort in doing so. In fact, state and federal governments also
currently encourage partnership and collaboration when