Solution Found Amidst Expired Hazard Plan

Fayette County Commissioners found a temporary solution to the County’s expired hazard mitigation plan.

The plan, a document the County needs to receive federal and state disaster funding, expired at the end of last year. The County already lost a grant to purchase generators for Fayette Water Supply Corporation due to the lapse.

At a meeting last Thursday, April 28, Commissioners authorized staff to draft a letter of extraordinary circumstances to the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM). Emergency Management Chief Craig Moreau’s office handles the hazard mitigation plan. Moreau told Commissioners the letter would serve as a stop-gap measure until a new hazard mitigation plan can be completed.

Moreau presented the commissioners with a letter from Jim Guin, an official at TDEM, which said the hazard mitigation plan (HMP) would need to be completed in 12 months.

“Public Assistance (PA) and Individual Assistance (IA), as well as Recovery funding would not be affected by an expired HMP,” Guin said.

“Should a future event happen, and your HMP has not finalized the update, you would submit a letter of extraordinary circumstances (EOC) letter with your mitigation application … Since Fayette County has already started the process, I am very confident that the EOC letter would be approved. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has the final determination where that is concerned; however, I believe Fayette County meets that criterion.”

The County is seeking funding from FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (FMGP) to pay for developing the new hazard mitigation plan. The County plans to work with the company H2O Partners of Austin to develop the new plan. Moreau presented Commissioners with a letter from H2O Partners advising the County against any work on the new plan until the grant funds arrive.

“As you know, beginning work on the project before receiving a grant award isn’t allowed and can put the whole grant in jeopardy of being deobligated,” the letter from H2O Partners stated. “If the County wishes to pay for the Plan development with HMGP grant funding, I would highly recommend not starting the process.”

“If we send in this letter, we will be covered?” asked Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom.

“Yes,” Moreau said.

Fayette County Grant Specialist Angela Hahn said the County will find out in two to three months whether FEMA decides to award the grant for the hazard mitigation plan.

“By July we should know if we get the grant,” said McBroom. “I’m all for getting the grant money. If we can do that, it’s going to get us a better plan than a plan we pay for ourselves. There’s a lot of stuff missing in our old plan.”

Moreau said the new plan will identify potential projects to mitigate future disasters.

“It identifies them ahead of time,” Moreau said. “If private money or public money comes along, then we’ve got these ready-made, turnkey projects ready to go.”

That would make the County more competitive in the grant application process, Moreau said.

The hazard mitigation plan must be updated every five years. Hahn advised Commissioners to begin the update process in year two of the new plan.

“At the end of 2019 when I was hired, we were already behind the curve on that,” Moreau said. “There was some catching up to do. We have gone as full throttle as we can with it minus paying for it in-house. I think the Court made a wise decision on that, because it would have been very expensive. We’re having to jump through some hoops now, but it’s not going to jeopardize our funding.”

“If we get this grant, it’s going to be a very good plan,” said McBroom.

“It’s going to be a Cadillac,” Hahn said. “We’re driving a Chevy Nova right now.”