The Army and the cities of Monterey and Seaside approved a five-year agreement Oct. 11 that provides facility and infrastructure operations and maintenance to the Presidio of Monterey at significant cost savings.
The "Monterey Model" began as a concept for the local municipalities to provide these services to the Presidio. Launched as a pilot program in 1998, it was authorized by the Department of Defense in 2003, and resulted in federal legislation creating Intergovernmental Support Agreements (IGSA) in 2013.
Col. Lawrence Brown, Presidio of Monterey garrison commander, sees this IGSA as a model for military installations and neighboring cities to do business together.
"Partnering with cities on municipal services allows cities and military installations to benefit from economy of scale and saves the Army resources to support readiness," he said. "It takes advantage of a wealth of existing expertise, and seeks creative means to safeguard tax-payer funding."
Signing the IGSA in front of Monterey City Hall were Congressman Sam Farr, Monterey City Manager Mike McCarthy, Katherine Hammack, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, and Brown.
The Army seeks partnerships with public and private organizations, Hammack said, because these partnerships benefit all involved.
"In order to make them happen you need a strong sense of purpose, great people, and a lot of persistence and that's what really made this a success," she said. "The IGSA legislation was entered into law in 2013 … so here we are in 2016."
Through three years of lawyer reviews, audits and negotiations, Hammack said, the new IGSA offers both sides flexibility.
"We have truly entered into a partnership where both sides benefit," she said. "That's truly what the military wants to be -- a good partner with the community."
Presidio of Monterey Service Agency was the non-profit entity created in 1998 by the city of Monterey to provide services to the Presidio of Monterey. Those services had been previously supplied by Fort Ord, the Army post closed in 1994 by Base Realignment and Closure.
Cost savings are realized by PMSA handling all necessary projects under one contract. The normal procedure at most military installations is for each project and service to be bid out to commercial providers, a time-consuming, piecemeal process, resulting in numerous separate transactions.
"The Monterey IGSA will be the largest of its kind; nearly $10 million," McCarthy said. "Many communities from all throughout the nation have been watching to see how this was done."
Representative Farr guided the IGSA legislation through Congress and thanked many who helped him in the long process of approval.
"Today what we're doing is really proving that these last two decades of work have saved the taxpayers money, gaining better efficiency, and getting better relationships," Farr said. "Today is another chapter in the military history of Monterey. What this does is unify two governments, federal government and local government, with one purpose."
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