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Daniels County adopts hazard mitigation plan; DES director warns EMPG cuts would shrink emergency staffing
Summary
Daniels County commissioners approved a county hazard mitigation plan and heard from the county’s emergency services director about a reduced EMPG award and the county’s $9,310 EMPG application.
Daniels County commissioners voted to approve the county’s hazard mitigation plan and to move ahead with steps intended to preserve eligibility for federal emergency funding, county staff said at the meeting.
The county’s director of emergency services (DES) told commissioners the county had applied for an Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) for the coming fiscal year and asked the commission to approve the application materials. The DES director said the county requested $9,310 of EMPG funds — roughly half of the director’s salary — and warned that the EMPG program nationwide had been reduced, noting earlier awards had been larger.
“We applied for $9,310,” the DES director said. “That funds half my salary. EMPG used to be $25,000; now the program has been cut in many places. If the EMPG funding disappears or shrinks further, the county will have to decide whether to reduce DES staffing or absorb the cost locally.”
The director framed the mitigation-plan adoption as a precondition for qualifying for federal assistance in the event of a disaster. “When feds show up after a major disaster they will ask whether you have a current emergency operations plan and a mitigation plan,” the director said. “If you do not, they may deny assistance.”
Commissioners discussed a related Homeland Security-funded siren program the city has asked to participate in; staff said they are fast-tracking the mitigation plan so the county can apply for funding for a siren system and other emergency communications gear. County staff also reported that parts of a planned communications tower shipment and tower base are arriving and that a local crew will set the tower when weather and concrete curing schedules permit.
On EMPG funding, the DES director described how federal changes had trimmed EMPG awards, with state allocations shifted and some counties seeing sharp reductions compared with past years. “I applied for $9,310,” the director said. “FEMA and state passing changes down means some counties lost two-thirds of their EMPG funding.” The director said the county also recorded other mitigation work — flood planning, hazard assessments and grant applications — as part of the mitigation plan package.
Commissioners approved the mitigation plan by motion; county staff will use the plan to apply for Homeland Security funds and to demonstrate mitigation compliance if the county seeks federal disaster assistance in the future. Staff also said they would coordinate with contracted tower vendors and county road crews to schedule tower installation once a tower base is poured and cured.
What commissioners requested next: staff will (1) file the EMPG application paperwork and related grant documents, (2) continue coordination with the city and potential contractors on a siren and tower installation schedule, and (3) deliver a short report at the next meeting describing the county’s grant prospects and any required local match amounts.
The action will not immediately change county staffing; the DES director said that absent firm federal funding the county may be asked to cover a larger share of emergency-management costs in the upcoming budgeting cycle.
Votes at a glance - Hazard mitigation plan: approved by motion (unanimous, no recorded roll-call names).
