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EMA reports tornado damage assessment, grants for generator and Starlink; modest FY26 budget increase
Summary
Emergency Management (EMA) briefed commissioners on tornado damage assessments, ongoing emergency operations activations, hazard mitigation planning grant award and new backup communications and generator funding from grants; EMA's FY26 request is slightly higher due to Starlink subscription.
Spalding County Emergency Management informed the Board of Commissioners that preliminary field assessments indicate a tornado likely caused damage earlier the same day and that the county’s damage assessment team had identified 11 damaged homes and about 20 calls for downed trees and power lines.
Chief Polk said the county’s emergency operations center (EOC) has activated repeatedly this fiscal year and that EMA has led or participated in seven activations already in 2025 for storms and severe‑weather threats. Polk highlighted training and exercise work, partnerships with utilities and regional emergency planners, and ongoing efforts to update the five‑year training and exercise plan and the Hazard Mitigation Plan.
Polk told the board that EMA secured grants to strengthen the EOC’s resilience, including funding for a backup generator and Starlink backup internet service; the Starlink subscription adds roughly $2,200 to the EMA budget for FY26. Polk said those grants covered equipment and the county match, reducing local cost.
Polk noted the county is awaiting formal approval from the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA) to start a 2027 hazard mitigation plan update; staff had already submitted and been notified of a grant award. He also said the county will host multiple training courses in 2025, and EMA intends to expand CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) and business continuity outreach and to partner with local healthcare providers for preparedness.
The board asked questions about household counts and costs; staff said exact household counts for power outages were not available at the workshop. Polk said the overall FY26 EMA request is a small increase from FY25 principally to cover Starlink subscriptions and other grant‑match expenses; commissioners asked staff to clarify tabular line items before finalizing the budget.
