Committee presses for earlier access to town's hazard mitigation and emergency plan drafts

The Energy and Climate Resiliency and Sustainability Committee was told the town's hazard mitigation plan and emergency plan are being jointly rewritten with support from MIT students and other contributors and that drafts are not yet available for committee review. Chair (speaker 1) said she had spoken with the police chief and Tom Andre and that departments are "putting in their 2¢" for a combined draft that the committee will receive when the first written draft exists.

Committee members pushed back on the pace and content. "If you look at the hazard mitigation plan, it really did not have any actionable items," Rico (speaker 4) said, arguing the plan lacked concrete assignments for departments during the last storm. Members asked the chair to request an institutional connection to the drafting staff or for a liaison to attend staff meetings so the committee can make constructive suggestions earlier in the process instead of after plans are finalized. The committee also noted that upcoming sewer/wastewater projects and commissioning of pumping stations will trigger additional plan revisions, making early engagement more important.