Butler County Emergency Management Director Carrie briefed commissioners on July 8 about 2024's and 2025's disaster responses and a shift in planning priorities after recent flooding.

Carrie said the department helped close out a 2022 Andover disaster, responded to a federally declared cold-weather event and led a large flooding response this year that included evacuation assistance and a resource center. The county's transportation resources were used to move residents during the floods, and the county partnered with the United Way, Red Cross and Sedgwick County Emergency Management to coordinate relief.

The department reported specific operational lessons: exercises and EOC activations earlier in the year helped prepare staff for the flood, and GIS and data tools developed with other departments improved search-and-rescue and field-to-EOC data flow. Carrie said the state now encourages separating recovery planning from the emergency operations plan, so Emergency Management is working on a stand-alone recovery plan informed by recent tornado and flood incidents.

Carrie told commissioners she has instituted a more rigorous background check for volunteers that mirrors the county's employee background checks, citing the need for reliability when volunteers assist with shelters or vulnerable populations. She said the volunteer roster is about 48 people and interest spiked after the flooding; the new background checks are slowing onboarding but add confidence in volunteer reliability.

The department flagged uncertainty in federal preparedness and homeland-security grants (Emergency Management Performance Grant and HSGP) and said a potential further 10% cut could be passed through by the state; staff said that would reduce county grant support for volunteer teams and EOC enhancements and might require local offsets.

Ending: Emergency Management will continue to develop a stand-alone recovery plan, refine volunteer onboarding with background checks, and monitor federal grant allocations; commissioners asked for continued updates.