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Cusseta-Chattahoochee adopts 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan to preserve FEMA funding eligibility
Summary
The Commission unanimously adopted the Cusseta–Chattahoochee County Hazard Mitigation Plan 2024 on Aug. 5, 2025, a required step to remain eligible for FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding; the plan identifies natural and technological hazards and lists 79 mitigation strategies.
The Commission of the Unified Government of Cusseta–Chattahoochee County voted unanimously Aug. 5 to adopt the "Cusseta-Chattahoochee County Hazard Mitigation Plan 2024," a move the county says is necessary to maintain eligibility for federal mitigation funding.
County Manager Thomas Weaver asked that the item be added to the agenda so the county could obtain approval from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and submit for FEMA reimbursement; "we have been waiting a year for GEMA," Weaver said during the meeting. Commissioner Timothy Biddle moved to amend the agenda and later moved approval of the plan; Commissioner Gerald Douglas seconded both motions and the votes were unanimous.
The resolution adopting the plan cites FEMA requirements (44 CFR 201.6). The plan update, prepared with a 21‑member local committee, identifies nine natural hazards and four technological or man‑made hazards and inventories mitigation strategies. The document says jurisdictions identified 79 strategies in total (70 for natural hazards and nine for technological hazards), including 27 new strategies. Examples listed in the plan include maintaining National Flood Insurance Program compliance, conducting siting studies for tornado shelters near mobile‑home parks, purchasing portable generators for the water utility, distributing NOAA weather radios, and evaluating outdoor warning siren locations.
The plan text states it will be updated every five years and that completed strategies from the prior plan were catalogued to support future grant applications. County officials said adopting the plan is largely procedural but essential: it documents the countyrisk assessment and mitigation priorities that FEMA and GEMA expect before approving Hazard Mitigation Grant Program reimbursements.
Next steps recorded in the minutes: the county will keep the plan on record and may use it to justify mitigation project funding requests; GEMA and FEMA signoff were noted in the plan documentation included in the meeting packet.
