Emergency Management Seeks Survey to Secure Millions in Safety Funding
M.K. French
Farmer Staff Writer
In the world of emergency management, the most important work is often the work you never see. It’s the preventive measures, or the “mitigation,” that keep a small fire from becoming a catastrophe or a storm from knocking out a community’s lifeline. For Karolin Jappe, McKenzie County’s Emergency Management Coordinator, this mission has recently become a race against bureaucratic red tape and rigid federal timelines. After a grueling cycle where $1.5 million in potential funding was redirected elsewhere due to a lack of “readiness” at the federal level, Jappe is turning to the community to ensure the county never leaves money on the table again. Specifically, the department needs community members to take a “Hazard Mitigation Plan” survey to determine the greatest needs when it comes to community preparedness.
The previous loss of funding wasn’t for lack of trying. According to Jappe, when the grant window opened, the department was given a nearly impossible month-long turnaround to identify projects, secure quotes, and write complex grants. To make matters more difficult, FEMA regulations require every project to be pre-listed in an approved Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan, a document that only gets updated every five years.”The funding wasn’t lost due to a lack of need; it truly came down to timing and readiness,” Jappe explained. In her 12 years of service, she’s seen the county explode in growth, turning an agricultural hub into an industrial powerhouse. That growth means the risks have changed, and the old plan simply couldn’t keep up with the department’s vision.
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