County awarded $50,000 state grant to rewrite Community Wildfire Protection Plan

Emergency Director Vanessa Varner updated commissioners on the Community Wildfire Protection Plan effort and grant status. She said the county's federal Community Wildfire Defense Grant application scored 88 but did not receive federal funding; the county secured $50,000 in state funds with no local match required to complete a rewrite.

Varner said the county issued a request for proposals for a qualified consultant to assist on the rewrite, with responses due Feb. 20 and a plan to present a recommended contractor to the Feb. 25 work session. "This grant is a zero match," Varner told the board, adding that the agreement will not exceed the $50,000 and that staff hopes to begin work March 1 and complete the project by Sept. 1 to meet the state's Sept. 15 deadline. She described wildfire risk in Roscommon County as high relative to other counties and said the rewrite should engage stakeholders for risk assessment, prioritization and implementation steps.

Commissioners discussed scheduling the contractor presentation and noted the shorter timeline for a rewrite compared with a full plan; no formal contract award was made at the meeting pending RFP responses and contractor selection.