Emergency management seeks EMPG grant to add UTV before June 30 deadline

Lucas Bridal, deputy director of Emergency Management, asked the board to approve applying for a federal EMPG (Emergency Management Performance Grant) that would cost‑share the purchase of an additional UTV to improve county field response coverage. Bridal said the grant is a 50/50 award; he cited the grant reference numbers from the application window and gave an equipment figure (the transcript referenced $15,568 for equipment). Bridal said trails and call volumes have increased and a single UTV does not cover the whole county, and he noted a hard deadline—equipment must be on hand and tagged by June 30 to comply with grant requirements.

Commissioners and staff discussed the timing; staff said matching funds and procurement details were in place and encouraged moving forward because awards are typically made each year.

What’s next: staff expected to move the application forward to meet the June 30 deadline. No final board vote was recorded in the work session.

Sources: presentation by Lucas Bridal, deputy director of Emergency Management.