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NEWPORT – The 2019 Pend Oreille County Hazard Mitigation Plan is being updated to help with federal funding after an emergency to ensure resilience when disaster strikes.
This planning process is being led by JoAnn Boggs, Deputy Director of Pend Oreille County’s Department of Emergency Management, with support from Beverly O’Dea of Bridgeview Consulting, LLC, the hired technical consultant. This project is funded by a planning grant from FEMA.
Boggs said the current plan must be updated every five years to qualify for U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds.
Mitigation plans are important at both the local and state levels. They represent a jurisdiction’s commitment to an all-hazards approach to reduce risk. They guide decision making as resources are allocated to reduce the effects of hazards.
Since 1979, FEMA has been the federal government’s lead agency in responding to and recovering from many of the nation’s greatest natural and manmade disasters.
“All municipalities, schools, the Kalispel tribe and other representatives are composed of the county planning team,” Boggs said.
There are six phases of mitigation planning: Establish a planning team, develop risk assessment, develop capability assessment, finalize mitigation strategy, plan review and adoption and plan maintenance and updates.
Boggs said the plan will go to the state then FEMA for final approval before being implemented.
“The entire process will take nine to 12 months to complete,” Boggs said.
The county is asking the public for input into the plan by having a survey on the Pend Oreille Emergency Management website. www.surveymonkey.
com/r/Pend_Oreille_County_Mitigation_Plan_ Survey%20 “In July, we will have a public comment and review meeting.” Boggs said.
Among the hazards to be addressed are wildfires.
“People are concerned about wildfires,” Boggs said.
To get alerts and warnings, people can sign up using Nixle, an SMS provider.
Nixle is completely free (standard text message rates apply for cell phone subscribers who do not have text plans with their cell phone providers).
To register and learn more go to www.nixle. com or text your zip code to 888777 for SMS text messages.
An informational website on the plan and purposes for planning has been established at www. pendoreilleco.org/emergency-management. This website will serve as the primary means for the public to gain information on the plan and ways that they can participate in the planning process.
The public is highly encouraged to provide input on all phases of this plan’s development to JoAnn Boggs, Pend Oreille County Emergency Manager, JoAnn Boggs, at JBoggs@pendoreille. org or via phone at (509) 447-3731, or the consultant providing assistance during development of this plan, Bev O’Dea at Bevodea@Bridgeviewconsulting. org or by phone at (253) 301-1330.
After the Hazard Mitigation Plan is approved, the county planning team tracks the plan’s implementation progress and to inform the plan update. The plan must include a description of the method and schedule for monitoring, evaluating and updating it with in the five-year cycle.
