EMA reports grants, mobile command post pickup and hazard-mitigation plan update

Fred Moore, director of LaSalle County Emergency Management Agency, updated the committee on staffing, grants and equipment.

Moore said the EMA revised its reporting format to separate incidents, events and exercises and reported 398 volunteer hours in January. He said the county received a $6,000 EMPG payment yesterday and about $8,300 from a radiological grant; both amounts are now recorded in county accounts.

Moore announced the county will retrieve a mobile operations and communications command post (pickup next Wednesday), train on it and make it available for local callouts beginning on the 19th; he plans an open house at the full-board meeting so members can inspect the unit.

Moore also said the county won approval for a grant to update its hazard-mitigation plan; he and others estimated the project falls somewhere under $30,000 and likely in the $19,000–$25,000 range. Moore emphasized that updated hazard-mitigation planning is required if municipalities want to qualify for certain mitigation grants (for example, for tornado sirens). The committee voted to forward an updated Illinois mutual-aid agreement to the full county board.

Moore additionally mentioned a memorandum of agreement with the Illinois Department of Military Affairs to allow use of the Marseilles Training Center for county training; staff will follow up with the details next month.