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County-backed grants will add battery backups and a solar trailer for emergency response and community lending
Summary
Supervisors approved a resolution allowing Emergency Management to apply for an RBDG grant to fund battery backups for medically dependent residents, and the board lauded a separate $90,000 no-match grant for a solar-powered generator trailer that will be used for response, demonstrations and a lending library for portable batteries.
The Des Moines County Board of Supervisors on June 30 authorized Emergency Management to apply for a Rural Business Development Grant to buy an emergency battery backup bank to support residents who rely on electrically powered medical devices during power outages.
County staff said the RBDG application requires the board to designate the emergency management coordinator as the grant administrator and that the grant requires no local match. The battery bank would be available to first responders to assist individuals whose medical equipment or refrigerated medicines fail during outages.
Separately, board members publicly thanked local volunteer Kenny Olson and emergency management staff for securing a $90,000 grant that funded a solar-powered generator trailer. Olson told the board the trailer — delivered the night before the meeting — will be used operationally and as an educational tool at community events. He said the trailer’s battery bank can power a typical American home for several days, and county staff plan to demonstrate it at a farmers market and to lend batteries to hospitals and residents in emergencies.
The board passed the RBDG resolution, and members praised staff for pursuing funding that avoids local match obligations. Staff said training with the sheriff’s office and public demonstrations are planned, and the trailer will be available to county emergency services when needed.
Board members and a public commenter framed the grants as investments in community resilience: emergency staff will use the trailer for incident response and the county will employ the battery bank to support medically vulnerable residents during outages. No cost to county taxpayers was reported for the RBDG application itself, and the separate solar trailer came via an outside $90,000 grant.
Next steps: staff will finalize the RBDG application, name the authorized representative as required, schedule training for operations and post the trailer’s availability and demonstration schedule to county channels.
