Hazard Mitigation Plan

By Press release submission

Jul 6, 2022

The County’s Emergency Management office is ready to receive the public’s comment on their newly updated Hazard Mitigation Plan. They are asking for the community’s help during this process by completing a survey to collect any comments people may have on the plan. The comment period will close on AUG 08, 2022.

“The purpose of this plan is for us to identify common natural hazards existing in our community, and then develop achievable solutions for the problems these hazards create,” said CPT Rockey Adams, the County’s Emergency Management Coordinator. “Many members of the community, elected officials, and emergency responders have spent considerable time providing information that went into the development of this plan. Now, to finalize it, we are asking people to take one last look at it and provide their comments, if they have any. The purpose of the comment period is to ensure the process captures everyone’s input who wants to have input,” CPT Adams added.

The steps to offer comment, the draft plan, and the links to the survey are posted at two different locations:

The public was previously asked to fill out a survey that identified the common hazards that exist in Berrien County. After identifying the level of concern for these hazards, several meetings with community leaders were held to develop a strategy to lessen the impact of these hazards. The County partnered with Tennessee-based BOLDplanning, Inc to collect the information and write the draft plan.

After public comment is collected and incorporated into the draft plan, it will be reviewed by the State of Michigan Hazard Mitigation Officer. From there, it will go to Federal reviewers at FEMA. With FEMA’s consent, the plan will then go before the boards of all 40 governments of Berrien County to formally adopt the plan by resolution.