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Story County emergency manager warns of federal grant uncertainty, highlights local training
Summary
Emergency Management Director Melissa Spencer told the Board the county has had a quieter quarter but faces uncertainty over FEMA and homeland-security funding and noted progress on Stop the Bleed trainings and a countywide exercise.
Story County’s emergency management office reported June 17 that local preparedness work continues but federal grant funding faces uncertainty that could affect staffing and programs.
Melissa Spencer, Emergency Management Director, told the board that staff completed most community Stop the Bleed trainings and are coordinating with Slater first responders and school districts to get kits and training for bus drivers before the school year. She also said the office ran a countywide exercise to test emergency support functions and noted an intern, Seija Ibrahim, completed a mapping project the office otherwise could not have finished.
Spencer described growing concern statewide about potential cuts to FEMA funding streams. She said the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) was currently reported to be secure but remained uncertain, hazard mitigation funding and other programs have been reduced, and the Homeland Security grant program may impose a new 25% local match requirement — a change Spencer said she has not seen in her 17 years with the county. The office is monitoring FEMA review council meetings and coordinating with state and federal partners; no definitive funding outcomes have been announced.
The report included no formal board action; supervisors thanked Spencer and praised local training work. The board did not direct additional steps in that session but acknowledged ongoing monitoring of federal grant developments.
