Nassau County emergency manager warns of possible federal grant cuts, outlines training and public programs

Tim Cooper, director of Nassau County Emergency Management, told the Board of County Commissioners on April 16, 2025, that recent federal and state funding signals could shrink recovery funding and said the county is expanding training, volunteer programs and public outreach to prepare.

Cooper said the Florida Division of Emergency Management’s most recent estimate accounts for about $780,000,000 in cuts that would largely affect recovery funds. “We just don't know what it's going to look like, when the rubber meets the road,” Cooper said, urging the county to plan for reduced external support.

The estimate matters because, Cooper said, two grant programs that historically support emergency management work are in flux. “They've told us that the EMPA is likely going to stay, and the EMPG is likely gone,” he said, adding that other grants are expected to diminish over time. He said staff is already coordinating with the county’s partners, including the Department of Health and the sheriff’s office, to identify which functions would need local carrying capacity if grant funding falls.

Cooper described a range of actions the office has taken to increase local resilience and reduce reliance on outside aid. He said local emergency management training for county staff has roughly tripled in the last three years and that the county hosted an intermediate (G‑300) incident command course and other multi‑agency preparedness exercises. The county also ran a continuity‑of‑operations (COOP) exercise that simulated the emergency operations center being put out of service and validated Starlink as a backup communications option.

Volunteer and public engagement were highlighted as part of the county’s resilience strategy. Cooper said volunteers contributed nearly 4,000 hours last year and that the Medical Reserve Corps, created locally during the COVID response, had trained more than 3,000 residents. He said the Nassau County MRC was nationally recognized and that an MRC volunteer was named national volunteer of the year.

On workforce development and public information, Cooper said the county established an internal public information officer for emergency management who completed advanced PIO training, and two emergency management staff completed an advanced professional development series. He also noted that two staff members earned American Heart Association credentials to teach CPR, AED and first aid.

Cooper introduced new public programs: a “preparedness passport” offering once‑a‑month classes (participants earn a stamp for each class and receive a certificate after nine classes) and a summer “Team for Girls” week‑long day camp intended to introduce girls to careers in public safety. Commissioners asked for clarification about the camp’s target grades; Cooper and staff described it as aimed at junior‑high/high‑school age students but the meeting record did not resolve a precise grade range.

Other items Cooper reported: participation in shelter planning and school district site walk‑throughs, expanded social media engagement (which he said increased by nearly 70%), and the deployment of local weather STEM stations in 2024 that provide real‑time and historical weather data via WeatherSTEM and 1nassau.com.

Commissioner Trisha Farmer thanked Cooper and his staff for the work: “There’s a lot that goes on down there,” Farmer said, praising the office’s role in preparedness and community education. Commissioner McCullough also praised the programs and asked about the camp grade range.

Cooper closed by urging continued interagency coordination and by noting that if federal and state resources decline, “there’s never a time where emergency management is going to be more important to the citizens of Nassau County.”

Less‑critical details: Cooper said the county responded to three activations last year (named in the meeting as Hurricane Debbie, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton) and described short‑term impacts as limited. He also said a planned five‑year local mitigation strategy will be submitted to the Florida Division of Emergency Management by the fourth quarter of 2025 for approval.