Williamson County to apply for FEMA funds to add backup generators at Expo Center

Williamson County officials authorized staff on March 25 to apply for FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds to install four backup generators at the Williamson County Expo Center.

The county’s emergency manager, Bruce Glements, told the Commissioners Court the proposal would provide generator power for the entire complex and would support sheltering of people, pets and livestock, staging of response assets before disasters, and post-disaster recovery activities such as family assistance centers. Glements said the application would be structured so each generator could be considered independently if FEMA or the Texas Division of Emergency Management chose to fund only part of the project.

Glements said the total project cost is $1.5 million and that FEMA would reimburse 75 percent, leaving a required local share of $375,000. He proposed splitting the county’s share across two fiscal years, requesting $800,000 in FY26 and $700,000 the following year to phase construction and reduce the near-term budget burden. “We could phase the initiative and have, you know, initial, like, one of the large generators or a couple of smaller generators done in next year and then do the rest of them the following year,” Glements said.

Commissioners asked about cash flow and the timing of federal reimbursement. Glements said the program reimburses incrementally after quarterly reports and that the county could request reimbursement as work is completed rather than waiting until the end of the grant. Commissioners also raised concerns about annual maintenance and fuel logistics; Glements estimated annual maintenance for all four generators at about $7,000 and confirmed fuel and pad/wiring work were included in the $1.5 million estimate.

Court members discussed potential impacts on facility rentals and revenue if the Expo Center were used as a long-term shelter during statewide events. Glements said accepting the grant would not create any new legal obligation to host out-of-county evacuees. Commissioners asked county staff to return with a separate agenda item clarifying the Expo Center’s use policies and any agreements with outside jurisdictions.

After the discussion, the court voted to authorize staff to apply for the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding and to pursue the parallel wildfire mitigation applications described by staff. The vote was unanimous.

The project identifies four priority generator locations at the Expo Center: the main building (largest generator, cited as 750 kW in staff remarks), the RV park, the West Arena and the tarmac/staging area. Glements said he will submit the generators in one application broken into prioritized segments so FEMA can select one or more generators to fund.

If funded, the county would pay a local cost share and perform procurement and construction under the usual county contracting rules; the court’s approval on March 25 authorized the application only and left ultimate acceptance of award and any procurement decisions to future actions by the court.