The Knox County Commission voted 3-0 on Aug. 12 to adopt the county's 2025 Hazard Mitigation Plan, a document county officials say will help towns compete for federal mitigation grants.

County officials described the plan as a largely statistical update that aggregates environmental and hazard data for the county and its municipalities. County staff said having an approved hazard mitigation plan is a precondition or scoring advantage for many FEMA grant programs and for the state's community resilience partnership application process.

The plan update was prepared with consultant support funded by a hazard mitigation grant, county staff said. The consultant compiled resources from state and federal sources to produce the update, county staff said during the discussion.

Commissioners asked whether the county itself could use the plan to apply for grants; staff answered that most grant opportunities tied to the plan are town-oriented because the county owns little infrastructure such as roads, bridges or lakeshore assets. County staff noted the plan still benefits towns by improving their eligibility and application scores to state and federal programs.

The vote to adopt the plan passed unanimously, 3 in favor and none opposed. The commission recorded no amendments to the plan during the meeting.

County officials said the towns and municipalities will be able to use the approved plan when applying for grants that require an up-to-date FEMA-approved mitigation plan. Staff also said the approval can contribute points toward the state's community resilience partnership scoring.

The commission took the adoption vote as an action item on the consent agenda and moved on to other business after the measure passed.