Baker County budget includes drone/LiDAR purchase and true off‑site backups for FEMA compliance

Baker County Board of County Commissioners members spent significant time discussing a proposed budget increase that county staff said covers three main items: moving to a geographically remote, third‑party off‑site backup location, a multi‑purpose drone platform with LiDAR for FEMA documentation and GIS work, and several smaller networking or licensing items.

County staff told commissioners the drone/LiDAR purchase — budgeted at roughly $31,000 — is aimed primarily at meeting FEMA documentation requirements and integrating high‑resolution terrain data into the county's geographic information system (GIS). “LiDAR is the gold standard as far as FEMA is concerned,” county staff said during the discussion, adding the system could be used for pre‑ and post‑storm mapping, floodplain mapping, stormwater modeling, trail management and search‑and‑rescue support.

The staff presentation said the county's current off‑site backup arrangement keeps copies “a mile down the road,” and recommended moving backups to a truly remote provider more than 100 miles away so that a single local disaster would not jeopardize both primary and backup systems. Staff named a Jacksonville provider, CoLogix, as an example of a commercial off‑site colocation company county staff had identified.

Staff acknowledged additional costs tied to the drone program beyond the capital purchase. The presentation included an $8,000 line item tied to training already in the proposed budget and noted that some FAA‑required training or certification for operators was estimated to be “under $2,000” though an exact quote had not yet been obtained. County staff also said Greg, who manages the county's GIS work, has already completed point‑cloud training and had worked closely with the road department during recent storms to collect photographic and video data.

Commissioners pressed staff on operational details. Multiple commissioners raised concerns that LiDAR data are only useful if the county has a routine, pre‑storm/annual collection program and the staff capacity to process and archive the large point‑cloud datasets. “If we fly it once and three years later a storm hits, it won't help us,” said a commissioner, arguing the county must set a schedule and standard operating procedures. Another commissioner urged the county avoid “single points of failure” by training more than one employee to manage the data and operations.

Staff said they have worked with road/public‑works staff to identify priority road segments that would be candidates for pre‑storm LiDAR flights and that they can provide a formal list of priorities and a proposed operating checklist. Staff also described a separate, smaller capital request for a network switch and other networking equipment to support the tax collector's office.

There was no formal vote on the drone or backup purchases during the session. Commissioners asked staff to return before budget adoption with: a list of priority flight areas, a written standard operating procedure explaining flight cadence and data maintenance, estimates of staff time required, and more precise vendor quotes for the drone, LiDAR payload and off‑site backup services.

The discussion made clear two policy constraints: county staff framed the LiDAR and drone work as intended to support FEMA reimbursement submittals when damage documentation is required, and the FAA compliance and operator training are prerequisites for safe operation. County staff said they will provide the additional detail requested prior to the commission's final budget vote.

No final procurement was approved at the meeting.