Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Emergency Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Emergency Management cites $35.5M FEMA win, winter-storm response and steep overdose declines while warning of grant delays
Summary
Emergency Management officials told the committee they coordinated a $35.5 million FEMA grant, led a six-day 24/7 winter-storm response that produced 745 calls to the center, and reported a drop in overdoses from 198 in 2020 to 56 in 2025; they asked the council to backfill three grant-funded positions amid federal funding delays.
Kevin Simmons, director of the Office of Emergency Management, told the Finance Standing Committee on April 23 that OEM coordinated a $35.5 million FEMA grant application covering a multi-year project, saying the application spanned more than 500 pages and took four years to complete. "Literally, the payoff was great," Simmons said, crediting the mayor's office and Maryland's federal delegation for support.
Simmons outlined major operational work since the last budget cycle: OEM ran a six-day, 24/7 emergency operations center during Winter Storm Fern, fielding 745 storm-related calls and focusing on life-safety and maintaining essential services. On substance-use response, Simmons highlighted a sharp decline in overdoses: total overdoses fell from 198 in 2020 to 56 in 2025, while fatal overdoses fell from 28 to five over the same period. He attributed the reductions to an expansive Narcan distribution and outreach program.
Simmons warned the committee that federal grant allocations for FY25 have been delayed and that OEM historically relies on multi-year federal grants to fund several staff positions. Because of the timing uncertainty, OEM proposed moving three existing, grant-funded positions into the city's operating budget to avoid losing staff if federal awards do not materialize: two emergency-management planners and one exercise/training/outreach public-information position. Simmons emphasized a conservative budgeting stance: "we fashioned our budget in a fact that this won't be here," meaning the proposed operating budget assumes no new federal grants until funding is received.
Council members asked operational questions about warming-center transportation and whether bus vouchers are needed now that warming centers have relocated; Simmons said other providers currently supply some bus passes and that the city is negotiating to use Robinwood gym next season.
On radio communications, OEM requested a $21,000 maintenance program for about 130 non-fire/non-police handheld radios used across departments; staff noted many departments already budget for radio maintenance and the committee asked finance and OEM to compile department-level maintenance spending and estimate the cost of a centralized maintenance program.
What happens next: OEM will provide more detail on grant timing if allocations arrive and staff will return with the requested radio-maintenance cost compilation and, if grants arrive, supplemental appropriations or fund transfers would be used to place federal dollars back into OEM budgets.
