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Council adopts county hazard mitigation plan and backs grant priorities for generators and sirens
Summary
Newport City Council adopted Resolution 2025-16 to adopt the 2025–2030 County Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan. The county presenter outlined priorities including backup generators for the emergency operations center and volunteer fire departments and an early-warning siren network, and council approved the plan by roll call.
The Newport City Council voted to adopt Resolution 2025-16, approving the county’s Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan for 2025–2030.
A county official identified in the transcript as Joe presented the plan, explaining that state and FEMA guidance require periodic rewrites and that the plan includes historical disaster data, demographics, topography and mitigation strategies. The presenter said the rewrite consolidated three documents used by the county: the debris-management plan, the basic emergency operations plan and the hazard mitigation plan.
Priority projects listed in the plan and noted by the presenter include purchasing a backup generator for the county emergency operations center (which presently lacks a backup generator), backup generators for the Newport Rescue Squad and six volunteer fire departments to support sheltering and operations, improved evacuation-route signage, and an early-warning outdoor siren network. The presenter estimated Tennessee’s allocation for such projects at roughly $6 million and said outdoor sirens cost roughly $60,000 each.
Council members asked few substantive questions and then moved to adopt the plan; a roll call recorded affirmative votes and the resolution carried.
Next steps: adoption makes the plan the county’s guiding mitigation document for five years and enables the jurisdiction to pursue grant funding for the listed priorities.
