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Emergency management trims overall budget but keeps emergency housing program; policy to limit stays to short stabilization periods
Summary
The Office of Emergency Management proposed an FY26 budget that reduces overall spending but maintains emergency housing and shelter funds at $50,000 and prioritizes short‑term stabilization housing; city staff said long‑term or catastrophic events would trigger other funding routes.
Chelsea’s Office of Emergency Management presented a reduced FY26 operating budget while retaining emergency housing and shelter capacity and technical services for public safety communications.
Deputy City Manager Michael Mason summarized the department’s overall budget, then Director Steve Stafford outlined the office’s three divisions — emergency management, emergency communications (9‑1‑1 dispatch) and technical services — and explained reductions compared with FY25. Stafford said the overall office budget decreased about 18%, primarily because earlier fiscal cycles had included higher payments for the new computer aided dispatch (CAD) system that are now complete.
Stafford said the emergency housing and shelter program remains funded and that the department is moving toward a written policy that stabilizes households after a fire or flood. “The bottom line is ... it stabilizes the family. So we go through the process at a fire scene or a flood scene of asking a series of questions ... At that point is when we'll house them, and it's strictly to stabilize them. So the minimum is overnight up to maybe a long weekend, 4 days,” he said, noting most incidents over the past fiscal year were short stays and that large disasters would trigger other funding and coordination.
Stafford said computer maintenance charges tied to the CAD purchase were reduced from prior one‑time payments to an ongoing $10,000 line and confirmed ongoing coordination with IT for network and radio systems. The office also coordinates the municipal fire‑alarm (fire‑box) system and municipal radio sites and manages fiber‑optic coordination with other departments.
Councilors pressed for data about how many households the program has housed; Stafford said he would provide specific counts on request. He and Mason stressed that for catastrophic events the city would coordinate with state and federal partners and potentially open larger shelters and seek external funding.
No formal council vote occurred; the office’s FY26 request will be included in upcoming budget deliberations.
