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Chambers County court authorizes pursuit of TDEM grant to build first‑responder shelter
Summary
Chambers County Commissioners Court authorized staff to apply for Texas Division of Emergency Management funding to convert the Old River community building into a first‑responder shelter, committing to the required local match and to manage the grant in‑house.
Chambers County Commissioners Court on June 9 authorized county staff to pursue grant funding through the Texas Division of Emergency Management’s (TDEM) first‑responder shelter program and to commit the required local match.
County staff said TDEM has earmarked about $10 million for the program and that the grant follows an 80/20 split, requiring the county to provide a 20% local match. Sam, the county staff presenter, told the court the plan is to model the project on the recently built Chambers Parkway community building to meet shelter standards and to house several hundred first responders during disasters.
“I do just for the record want to make sure that it is underscore that this is a first responder shelter, not a resident shelter,” Sam said, adding the county intends residents to evacuate when necessary and to keep first responders staged and ready.
Staff said they would expedite the application by using existing plans where possible, manage the grant administration in‑house rather than hiring an external grant administrator, and would comply with procurement rules (RFQ) required by federal law. The representative said the application period is roughly six months and, if awarded, the resulting contract would allow 24 months for construction with options for extensions.
Commissioner Hammond moved to authorize the application and commit the required match; Commissioner Gore seconded the motion, which carried.
The court did not adopt final architectural plans at the meeting; staff said design details, water storage requirements and exact shelter capacity will be refined during the application and design process.
