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Weber County pre-disaster mitigation plan presented to Ogden council; adoption would preserve federal grant eligibility
Summary
Kenny Miller presented the county's five-year pre-disaster mitigation (PDM) plan and told the Ogden City Council that local adoption is required to remain eligible for federal mitigation grants such as FEMA funding; staff said adoption carries no immediate city budget obligation but enables future grant applications.
Kenny Miller, identified in the meeting as the presenter, briefed the Ogden City Council on the Weber County pre-disaster mitigation plan, a five-year document the county and its cities use to prioritize actions that reduce long-term risk to life and property from hazards. "Hazard mitigation involves any sustained action to reduce or eliminate long term risk to human life and property from hazards," Miller said, and emphasized that local jurisdictions must adopt the plan to be eligible for federal mitigation grant funding from FEMA.
Miller said the plan addresses 14 hazard types relevant to the county and that local projects listed in the plan form a "wish list" for when federal funding becomes available. He told the council adoption itself carries no immediate budget impact: "To adopt this, there's no budget impact currently," Miller said, explaining many projects would need federal support and some are high-cost items beyond the city's standalone capacity.
Council members pressed on funding history, asking which past projects in Ogden had received federal mitigation or disaster funding. Miller pointed to major river and flood projects in recent years and recalled approximately $150,000 from the 2023 flood disaster recovery for some mitigation expenses; he also noted the federal BRIC grant program used previously is not available this year, reducing a key funding channel.
Members also asked about operational resilience for nontraditional threats such as electromagnetic pulses or space weather. Staff said some systems, notably SCADA controls, would be degraded in those events but that many water and sewer functions can be operated manually; backup IT and EOC contingencies were also described.
Miller and other staff urged adoption so the city will be positioned to apply rapidly if and when federal mitigation programs are funded again. No final adoption vote was recorded at the work session; staff indicated the standard follow-up steps would be taking the document through the city's formal agenda process for consideration.
