Marshall County EMA Director Clyde Avery told the commissioners this week that the county is eligible for the Emergency Management Performance Competitive Grant, but the equipment requested in the grant may not be approved by the state.
Avery explained that he would like to reevaluate the use of the grant if the state will not approve recording equipment that Avery feels is necessary for the Emergency Operations Unit.
“The recording equipment that I had requested to purchase off this grant is apparently is not on the approved equipment list so I’m waiting to see if Indianapolis will approve that,” said Avery. “If they will not approve it, I would like to adjust the projects I’d like to do with the funding – primarily an EOC functional exercise for next year. We can test our plan to see if it’s going to work the way that we hope it’ll work if we activate the Emergency Operations Center.”
Avery noted that the equipment could be critical at some point.
“We have the radios in there and it’s kind of important if we do activate the EOC and we do use that equipment that there is some sort of documentation as to what actually took place. It might be important or critical to us at some point in the future.”
Whatever funds may be left over, Avery hopes to purchase educational material for the general public.
A training exercise may cost anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000 to hire a contractor to help coordinate the exercise.
The grant is for $8,485.29.
The commissioners unanimously approved Avery’s request.
