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Flood recovery advocates ask for continued FEMA match support and new state flood positions
Summary
Teddy Waszak asked the committee to continue municipal FEMA match funding, and to fund two new positions—a municipal grant liaison and a flood mitigation technician—to help smaller towns navigate grants and identify watershed‑scale projects.
Teddy Waszak of Barre City urged the House Appropriations Committee to maintain and expand state support for flood response and recovery after the 2023 and 2024 floods. Waszak asked the committee to continue the state’s practice of paying FEMA match money for municipalities and to consider two permanent positions in the Division of Emergency Management: a municipal grant liaison and a flood mitigation technician.
Waszak said the municipal grant liaison would help small towns that lack professional grant staff “navigate the grant process, gain access to state and federal funding,” and that a flood mitigation technician—an engineering position—would identify priority projects across full watersheds. He also asked the committee to sustain municipal operations support that helped some towns keep services running after consecutive floods.
Waszak did not provide specific dollar amounts but said the requests are included in a draft 2025 flood omnibus bill he emailed to legislators and that continuing support is “very important” for rural Vermont communities, particularly in the Northeast Kingdom.
