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Sawyer County emergency manager says federal hazard-mitigation grant was cut; 911 upgrades underway
Summary
County emergency management reported a federal BRIC grant award was canceled, leaving no current funding to update the county's hazard mitigation plan; the office also said the county's communications center recently moved to SCNET, began using ECATS analytics and is testing text-to-911.
Sawyer County emergency management told the Public Safety Committee that a previously awarded BRIC (FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) grant was canceled, leaving the county without the federal funding it had planned to use to update its hazard mitigation plan.
The change matters because the county must maintain a current hazard mitigation plan to be eligible for certain FEMA disaster funds. Emergency management staff said the county's last plan approval was in 2021 and that plans must be updated every five years. The staff member asked that the committee put a hazard-mitigation funding update on a future agenda and said they would forward the award documentation received from Northwest Regional Planning and the state.
Emergency management staff also reported progress on communications upgrades. The county's communications center went live on SCNET on May 15 and has implemented ECATS Next Gen analytics to produce more detailed call-taking reports. Staff said the office is in the testing phase for text-to-911 and is working with cellular providers to bring that service fully online. The report noted year-over-year growth in call volume by about 1,000 calls and listed a total of 7,930 calls for service in the period referenced. For one recent month, staff said 911 lines took 580 calls and nonemergency lines took 3,303 calls (3,883 total answered calls in the communication center).
Committee members asked that the hazard-mitigation funding issue come back to the committee before moving to the county board. Emergency management staff said the BRIC funding had been part of a four-county award including Taylor County, Price County and Ross County, and that they would forward the award documentation to committee members for review.
The emergency management presentation also listed community events and outreach: National Night Out is scheduled for Aug. 5 at the intermediate school from 5 to 7 p.m., and a "Cops and Barbers" event is scheduled Aug. 9 at The Landing Resort from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Committee direction: members asked staff to place the hazard-mitigation funding update on a future committee agenda and to circulate the award documentation.
