Osceola emergency management director outlines plan updates, exercises and federal funding concerns ahead of hurricane season

Bill Litton, Osceola County emergency management director, told the Osceola Board of County Commissioners on June 2 that the county has updated and filed its comprehensive emergency management plan with the state, added three new annexes and is preparing for the 2025 hurricane season while monitoring possible federal funding reductions.

Litton said the plan update — which he said has been approved by the state — now includes annexes for extreme weather, cyber response and livestock response. He also said county staff are completing a local mitigation strategy to be filed in September, which Litton said is required to make the county eligible for certain federal mitigation dollars after a disaster.

The county also is replacing its older damage-assessment software with ScribeTrack, Litton said, adding the new system integrates with WebEOC and will include a public-facing link for residents to report damage and upload photos. He described recent preparedness exercises the department took part in, including a regional hospital exercise on April 10 that involved more than 59 hospitals and student role players and that prompted four county emergency operations centers to activate to a coordination level for a simulated complex attack.

Litton outlined the county's annual hurricane exercise, which he said this year was named "Hurricane Kenny" in honor of a longtime damage-assessment leader. He said the tabletop and full-day exercises tested day and night teams and included partnerships with volunteer organizations such as Southern Baptist disaster teams.

On public notification and preparedness, Litton said the county is rebranding Alert Osceola banners and encouraging residents to use multiple channels, including NOAA weather radios. He briefed commissioners on an app called Beacon, a statewide tool developed with the University of Florida journalism program and Florida Public Radio Network that delivers National Weather Service alerts and state messages to phones.

Litton also highlighted public outreach efforts: a student severe-weather poster contest (this year's winner was an 11th-grader, Sophia, from Celebration High School), a newly produced children's activity guide tied to the county's Ready program, and an in-person "For the Storm" preparedness event that drew about 400 attendees and included a panel with the state emergency director and local media and weather partners.

On federal funding, Litton told the board the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) program may be rebranded and could provide no additional money in FY25 and FY26, and that the federal Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) appears to be facing an approximate 12% nationwide reduction. He said FEMA has proposed raising the public-assistance per-capita threshold (which would change when counties qualify for certain assistance) and signaled it may scale back door-to-door canvassing after disasters, which the county uses to identify affected households.

Litton said the state and local governments have developed a multi-agency resource center (MARC) model to replace traditional disaster recovery centers and to support canvassing and service delivery after disasters. He also referenced the FEMA Review Council and ongoing federal legislation called the FEMA Reform Act of 2025.

Litton reviewed last season's national storm counts and local impacts, and he urged residents not to fixate on seasonal numbers. He said the county will start using an experimental inland wind-impact tracking map to give officials and the public earlier information about predicted inland tropical-force winds (72 hours ahead, compared with 48 hours previously).

Commissioners thanked Litton for the update and expressed concern about federal cuts and their local implications.

The presentation closed with Litton inviting commissioners to ask questions.