San Diego/Imperial County Libraries Disaster Response Network (SILDRN)

Mutual Aid Agreement

 

 

This Mutual Aid Agreement ("Agreement") is made and entered into by and between the undersigned libraries, whose director or the chief executive officer of the institution or agency to which the library belongs has signed this Agreement, hereinafter referred to as "Parties," and is effective on March 1, 2004. Resigned with no changes, effective March 1, 2009.

 

RECITALS

 

Whereas, the Parties are libraries of agencies or institutions located in San Diego or Imperial Counties;

 

Whereas, each Party has identified disaster recovery personnel and at least one coordinator of such personnel, all of whom have disaster recovery expertise and the authority to perform disaster recovery services to the respective agency or institution by which they are employed;

 

Whereas, the Parties agree that it is not economically feasible for any individual Party to purchase, store and maintain all of the supplies and equipment that would be needed to cope with a major disaster; and

 

Whereas, each Party desires to provide to, and receive from, the other Parties disaster recovery assistance through participation in the San Diego/Imperial County Libraries Disaster Response Network ("Network") in the circumstances described in this Agreement.

 

NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual covenants contained herein and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the Parties agree as follows:

 

1.      Governing. The Network is a regional cooperative organization. The Network is governed by a steering committee and a board of directors. Each Party will appoint one member to the steering committee and will be represented on the board of directors. A Party may change its appointed steering committee member at any time upon written notice to the other Parties. The steering committee will be responsible for operational decisions regarding the Network, including (1) recommending to the board of directors the amount of fees, if any, that should be assessed of the Parties and the date by which such fees must be paid; (2) deciding how to utilize the Network's membership fees or in kind contributions by the Parties; and (3) obtaining and monitoring the level of disaster recovery supplies purchased by the Network via the Parties' membership fees. The board of directors will be responsible for general administration of established Network policies and programs. Decisions of both the steering committee and the board of directors will be determined by a majority vote of the members voting on any given decision.

2.      Membership Fees. In consideration for participating in, and benefiting from, the Network, each Party will pay the Network membership fees in the amount and by the date specified by the board of directors. A Party may pay the membership fees via in-kind contributions at the discretion of the steering committee. If a Party fails to timely pay the membership fees assessed by the Network, it may not benefit from the rights set forth in Section 3 or 4 below until such fees have been paid.

3.      Disaster Recovery Supplies. Using the Parties' membership fees, the Network maintains disaster recovery supplies and equipment deemed necessary for salvaging library materials ("Supplies"). The Supplies will be stored in storage containers in predetermined locations, as identified on the Network's Web page (http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/sildrn/contain.html). The Network will maintain the storage containers and will pay for such maintenance with the Network's membership fees. If a Party on whose property a storage container is stored withdraws from the Network in accordance with Section 6, the storage container will be moved to a new location at the Network's expense.

In the event of a disaster that cannot be conveniently or expeditiously met with the disaster recovery supplies held locally by a Party, as determined in such Party's discretion, the Party experiencing the disaster may access the Supplies in the Network's storage containers. A Party experiencing a disaster described in this Section 3 shall take no more than the amount of Supplies reasonably necessary to meet its immediate disaster recovery needs and will replace any Supplies withdrawn from the Network's storage containers within ninety (90) days of removal.

4.      Disaster Recovery Personnel. In the event of a disaster that cannot be conveniently or expeditiously met with the disaster recovery personnel held locally by a Party, as determined in such Party's discretion, the Party experiencing the disaster may request assistance from the disaster recovery personnel of the other Parties, which personnel will be provided at the discretion of each such party. The extent and duration of the assistance, if any, to be provided by a Party to the Party experiencing the disaster will be determined solely by the Party choosing to furnish such assistance, provided that the personnel provided by one Party for another library under this Agreement will be supervised and instructed by the party for whose library the assistance is rendered. Nothing herein, shall be construed as giving any authority to personnel of one Party over personnel of another Party with respect to standards of performance, advancement, compensation and discipline of personnel or similar administrative matter and disaster recovery personnel furnished by an assisting Party pursuant to this Agreement will be considered to be acting for the assisting Party in pursuit of lawful duties; and any wages, salaries, compensation claims or other costs relating to their employment will be borne by the assisting Party. No Party will be required to pay any compensation to any other Party for services rendered hereunder, the mutual advantages and protection afforded by this Agreement being considered adequate compensation to all of the Parties.

No Party will be liable for any action taken by its personnel in good faith or at the direction of the Party for whose library assistance is rendered in the course of performing disaster recovery services pursuant to this Section.

5.      Relationship of the Parties. Nothing in this Agreement will be deemed to create an agency, employment, partnership or fiduciary relationship between the Parties. No Party is the representative of another Party for any purpose and no Party has the power or authority to represent, act for, bind or otherwise create or assume any obligation on behalf of another Party for any purpose whatsoever.

6.      Term and Termination. This Agreement commences on the effective date set forth above and continues indefinitely, unless terminated by a majority vote of the board of directors. Notwithstanding the foregoing,any Party may withdraw from the Network and terminate this Agreement with respect to itself at any time, effective upon thirty (30) days written notice to each of the other Parties. None of the Parties will incur any liability to any other Party by reason of such termination. The terminating Party has no right to the Supplies it may have contributed to the Network.

Upon termination of the Network by vote of the board of directors in accordance with this Section, the containers and the Supplies contained therein will be either sold and the net proceeds disbursed in the same proportion as the value of their respective contributions (including Supplies and membership fees) or distributed in kind to the Parties. Upon the termination of this Agreement, either in connection with the withdrawal from the Network of a Party or with the termination of the Network as a whole, Sections 4 (2^nd paragraph) and 5 through 8 will survive.

7.      Limitation of Liability. No Party makes any representations or warranties, express, implied or statutory, regarding the Supplies or any services rendered to another Party hereunder, including but not limited to any implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. Each Party acknowledges that it has not entered into this Agreement in reliance upon any representation or warranty. The Parties acknowledge that they would not enter into this Agreement without these limitations of liability.

8.      Miscellaneous. All notices that may or must be given by one Party to another under this Agreement may be given by personal delivery in writing or by registered or certified mail to the address on file with the Network for the receiving Party and will be deemed given on the date of actual delivery or three (3) days after the date of mailing, whichever is sooner. This Agreement may be amended by a writing signed by the Parties and constitutes the entire agreement between the Parties regarding the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous agreements, understandings and communications, whether written or oral. This Agreement may be signed in several counterparts, each of which will constitute an original.

In witness whereof, the undersigned have caused this Agreement to be executed by their respective authorized representatives.