Redington Shores to pursue consultant and RFP to enable homeowner flood-mitigation grants

Town Administrator Mike McGlothlin briefed the Redington Shores Board on the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) program on July 31 and the board directed staff to begin procurement steps to participate.

McGlothlin said FMA is a competitive federal program that assists individual property owners with funding for structural flood-mitigation improvements; for the town to participate it would need to act as a pass-through and hire a consultant to manage the program. "This is a competitive grant program where individual property owners apply for funding assistance to help with structural improvements," McGlothlin said.

Staff reported prior attempts to hire a consultant had been unsuccessful. Attorney Robert Eschenfelder advised these consultants are usually engineers and managing the program is complex, comparable to construction project management; he suggested contacting the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) to identify communities that had already contracted consultants. The board directed Administrator McGlothlin to follow the procurement process and submit a Request for Proposal through DemandStar and to consult FDEM and the Florida League of Cities' grant department for leads.

Resident Chris French spoke in favor of pursuing FMA participation, saying the program would be beneficial for property owners. The board must decide whether to proceed by the Aug. 14 regular meeting to meet an Aug. 30 application deadline.

Next steps: staff will issue an RFP through DemandStar, continue consultant outreach, and report back at the Aug. 14 meeting.