Valley County emergency manager urges hiring consultant as hazard-mitigation grants remain on hold

Valley County emergency manager Juan told the Board of County Commissioners on March 10 that the county's five-year all-hazard mitigation plan "sunsets October sixteenth of this year," and staff are recommending hiring an external writer to complete the plan and related chapters to preserve eligibility for mitigation grant awards.

The recommendation matters because FEMA and state grant offices have the county's mitigation and equipment applications under review and some grant cycles are on hold. Juan said the county has a planning grant request of $65,045 to produce a new all-hazard mitigation plan and a second, larger mitigation request from the road department for work in the Four Corners area; the latter was described in the meeting as "almost 300 and some thousand dollars" (amount not specified precisely in the record). FEMA discussions, Juan said, generally indicate review before awards but county staff were told the applications are currently suspended pending additional review.

Juan said the steering committee has drafted hazard assessments and project lists for floods, wildfire, debris flows and related hazards, but the plan still needs the full written chapters, appendices and a countywide fire protection chapter. "Our all hazard mitigation plan, which is a 5 year plan, sunsets October sixteenth of this year," Juan said at the meeting.

County staff said Boise State University (BSU) and Dr. Brandt have already done substantial local work and have proposed using that material as the basis for the mitigation-plan scope of work. Juan said that because the steering committee has already collected much of the project and hazard assessment material, a hired consultant would focus on completing the remaining plan chapters, appendices and cross-references so the county can meet FEMA and state formatting requirements.

Commissioners asked whether the county must issue an RFP for the work and were told the county attorney, Mr. Oakey, will determine procurement requirements. One commissioner said, "I have no problem with stating that we will find funding for it," and Juan noted that, if necessary, the county could backstop the contract with PILT funds and seek grant reimbursement later.

Juan also discussed other preparedness funding: the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) reimbursement for wages (listed in the meeting as $12,715.71) and the State Homeland Security Program (SHSP) equipment award (listed as $29,837.08). He said SHSP funds have been targeted for a mobile computer-aided-dispatch (CAD) capability to allow responders to operate if central dispatch or 911 systems go down. Juan said IOEM staff encouraged the county to proceed with vendor procurement now so cost estimates and reimbursement paperwork are in place if federal funding is awarded.

Juan warned that FEMA and other federal grant streams were "up in the air" and remain subject to further review at the federal level. He asked the board to consider hiring a writer sooner rather than later to meet an anticipated fall submission window and noted FEMA sometimes grants short extensions if a jurisdiction is demonstrably working toward completion; the board heard that the last extension the county received was 18 months, but Juan said the county should expect less leeway this cycle.

Speakers raised administrative details: the mitigation plan includes a federal match (described in the meeting as a roughly $15,000 match that can be met in part through time contributions from participating stakeholders), procurement timing and whether BSU should be considered given their prior work on hazard mapping and evacuation messaging. Juan said BSU was assembling a team and it would make sense to consider their bid because "they've done a lot of the lake work already." IOEM staff named in the discussion included Adjunct General Donnelly, Ben Roper and Susan Keverly (grant coordinator), all described in the meeting as sources of technical grant guidance.

The board did not take a formal vote on funding at the March 10 meeting; Juan presented the request for discussion and asked the commission to consider the timing and procurement questions at a future meeting so a contract can be in place if grants are awarded.

Ending

Juan closed by saying the county's fire working group and revised lands committee will support hazard-assessment mapping and evacuation-zone templates ahead of the fire season; he reported that other counties and the state have asked Valley County to contribute its mapping approach to a statewide task force. Several commissioners expressed support for continuing grant work while preparing to cover costs locally if awards are delayed or denied.