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Gordon County EMA outlines training and school‑safety work as commission authorizes hazard‑mitigation application
Summary
Gordon County commissioners heard an Emergency Management presentation and authorized applying for the 2027 Gordon County Hazard Mitigation Plan, a roughly 18‑month process that opens eligibility for grant funding; the EMA director highlighted school safety reviews and hundreds of training hours delivered by the deputy director.
Gordon County’s Emergency Management director told the county commission the office is preparing to start work on the 2027 Gordon County Hazard Mitigation Plan and urged commissioners to authorize an application that will make the county eligible for grant support.
"With y'all signature tonight, that process will get started and that opens us up for lots of grant funding," Keith said, describing the roughly 18‑month effort and noting the county’s last plan was adopted by FEMA in 2022. He said grant awards would reimburse the county for initial costs if approved.
The presentation outlined EMA responsibilities and recent activity. Keith said the county submitted 11 school safety plans to EMA; EMA has reviewed eight and expected to finish the remaining three "tomorrow" before routing them to law enforcement and then to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency for approval. He emphasized the Oct. 1 deadline for GEMA submission.
Keith also highlighted exercises and training: Gordon County recertified as a "storm ready" community earlier this year for another four years, and EMA has multiple exercises scheduled, including a tabletop exercise at AdventHealth on Sept. 26. He identified public‑safety education as a growing role for the deputy director, and cited more than 675 documented hours of teaching and training by the deputy director between Nov. 23 and June 2024 that included EMT and CPR courses for local firefighters and citizen CPR/stop‑the‑bleed sessions.
The director described EMA responsibilities that include administering disaster reimbursement (countywide except for the city of Calhoun), maintaining equipment such as the mobile command unit and ATVs, and using notification and recovery software including HopperReach and Crisis Track.
Commissioners praised the department’s cross‑agency work and training efforts, saying the outreach builds important relationships with fire departments, law enforcement and schools. Keith said starting the mitigation‑plan application will also position the county to apply for mitigation projects following a declared disaster.
The work session presentation closed with the request to authorize the application; the board proceeded to its scheduled regular session at 6:00 p.m.
