Baker County presents FEMA-backed long-term recovery plan, lists 10 priority projects

Baker County officials and volunteer project champions on Thursday presented a FEMA-assisted Long-Term Recovery and Resilience Plan to the Board of County Commissioners, saying the citizen-developed blueprint is intended to guide recovery from the 2024 storm season and prepare the county for future events.

The presentation, led by local project organizers with FEMA facilitation support, laid out a vision — “Baker County is a self-reliant, resilient, and thriving community that serves the needs of all of its community members” — and a mission to ensure the county has the resources, tools and networks to deliver services, support sustainable growth and preserve its rural character. The presenters asked the Board to adopt the plan and integrate it into existing long-range planning.

"This is a living, breathing document," the primary presenter told the board, saying the plan will change as the county achieves goals and secures funding. He described a multistage process of citizen outreach — two community-wide public meetings, a county survey and an open house — that produced a prioritized list of 10 projects and project champions.

Top priorities named in the plan include a road maintenance and improvement program (with Commissioner Bennett identified as committee lead and outside technical partners engaged), a growth-management update, affordable housing policies, an event to promote county identity, an updated parks and recreation master plan, river habitat and corridor conservation, a Medicaid navigator service, expanded public-health outreach, a long-range community communications initiative to protect 911 access during outages, and targeted wastewater lift-station generators for Glenn St. Mary.

Presenters said many projects already have local champions and some work is underway; others are early-stage and will require funding and partnership development. The county has placed projects in its LMS and the IRC team will provide project-management training for champions to help them pursue grants and partnerships.

Board members and staff discussed funding avenues and timelines. One commissioner noted a parks project estimate of about $90,000 compared with only $9,000 currently available and urged the plan to include clear funding options. County staff recommended seeking CDBG and other grant opportunities and coordinating appropriations and local funding requests with state representatives.

On communications, presenters said the county is exploring satellite options and other turnkey systems to preserve 911 access when power and cell service fail. A Starlink unit is already available at the emergency operations center, but presenters said it does not by itself provide countywide 911 functionality; the preferred approach is to combine donated equipment and sponsor-supported locations to limit county operating costs.

Presenters emphasized the long timeline and partnership needs: several projects may take years and require external funding, private-public partnerships and more community involvement. "Success is attained only when the plan enjoys widespread support," a presenter said.

The next step, the presenters said, is for the county Board to consider formal adoption of the recovery plan and to fold its elements into other county strategic plans. The presentation closed with thanks to volunteer champions, the IRC/FEMA support team and a pledge to return to the Board with a formal adoption request and additional project cost/timeline details.

The Board opened the workshop for additional public remarks, then adjourned the session.