Grace City Council Report October 16

This report is adapted from the official minutes recorded by City Clerk Shelley Reeves.
The Grace mayor and City Council met on October 16 for a regular meeting. There were not enough members present to constitute a quorum, so it was not possible to execute any action items.
The majority of the meeting involved a presentation from Mike Clements and Eric Hobson, who discussed the County All-Hazard Mitigation Plan to the council. According to the minutes, “The county involves the city in the process of updating the plan, then the city’s under the umbrella of the plan.” Mr. Clements explained that if the city is working under the county’s hazard mitigation plan, they are then eligible to apply for grants that are tied to hazard mitigation. Mr. Clements described some examples of the sorts of grants which are possible under this framework, like repairing the city sewer lines or the springs. He explained that the county needs the citizens within its boundaries to complete a survey to determine which hazards are seen as most important and in need of mitigation. The process results in a completed All-Hazard Mitigation Plan which catalogs the county’s potential areas of vulnerability to various disasters, including natural disasters such as floods, fires, earthquakes, and so on, as well as threats like cyber attacks and terrorism. Plans for responding to such threats are outlined, and the presentation of that information is what allows for the pursuit of relevant grants under a range of FEMA and other federal agency funds. As the mitigation plan process moves forward, the county will hold public information sessions to update residents on the progress.
Fire Chief Curtis Peck reported on the Fire Department’s re-evaluation from the Department of Insurance. The last evaluation was conducted ten years ago, and at that time the department received a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the “best” side of the scale. During the most recent evaluation, the department received a 5, which will help lower the cost to citizens of the city’s fire insurance payments starting in January. Fire Chief Peck thanked the city council for their support in helping the department to get the equipment and training it needed in order to help improve the rating, which is based on those factors.
Superintendent Riley Crookston reported that the tanks have been cleaned and they don’t need to be done more often than every five years. The ladders in the tanks need to be replaced. He’s working on getting a bid from the same company that cleaned the tanks to replace the ladders. The park bathrooms are closed for the winter and the sprinkler systems are blown out.