Eddy County Commission rejects federal grant

At their regular meeting on Tuesday, June 6, Eddy County commissioners decided not to reapply for a federal grant that pays for the county's emergency manager.

The decision came after the county’s current part-time emergency manager, Lisa Thompson, presented commissioners with the grant’s new requirements, which she believes go too far.

“We’re all being painted with the same brush," she said, “and it just doesn’t fit us.”

The grant in question is the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG), which – according to fema.gov – provides emergency management agencies with resources required to implement the “National Preparedness System.”

Eddy County has utilized the grant to pay for the emergency manager position for years. In 2021, they received over $8,000 from the grant, and they received over $10,000 in 2022.

Now, Thompson believes the requirements necessary to receive that funding are no longer worth it.

In order to receive EMPG grant funding for the next fiscal year, Thompson said she and other emergency managers are being required to carry out a national priority project, which must address at least one of three priorities: equity, climate change and readiness.

An informational packet sent to Thompson from the N.D. Dept. of Emergency Services (NDDES) details those priorities and provides project options.

“To the extent possible, equity considerations must be factored into all [fiscal year] 2023 EMPG Program-funded investments …,” states the packet.

However, Thompson told commissioners that she doesn’t believe additional equity considerations are necessary.

Thompson remarked that another local emergency manager explained it best when they said, "when we knock on doors to evacuate people we don’t say, ‘Oh you're the wrong color, you can stay.’

“So that is a real stickler for me because I personally don’t believe that anybody in this position is treating anybody any differently as far as emergency treatment.”

One project offered to address the national priority of equity is to incorporate a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) into the community.

Thompson said that New Rockford already has CERT, technically. However, many of its members have since passed away, are retired or are already first responders with EMS or the fire department.

Another option is to institute “Teen CERT,” a version of the program for teenagers still in school.

The packet from NDDEQ states, “With small towns (under-served populations) struggling to find emergency response personnel, we are hoping that if we could train our young people with CERT, it would give some relief to their communities and possibly encourage them, as they get older, to get involved in emergency response.”

Instituting Teen CERT was actually attempted as recently as last year, but didn’t work out, informed Thompson, largely because doing so required finding someone willing to teach and organize a course at the school.

Thompson could teach the course herself, but she said doing so would not only require training but also significantly increase her workload.

Meanwhile, the grant is also asking emergency managers to address climate change, and to lead the whole community in “climate resilience.”

Doing so would mean multiple new tasks, such as developing climate literacy plans as well as conducting exercises that “incorporate climate considerations into response and recovery efforts.”

Thompson told commissioners she’s not qualified to discuss climate change and expressed concern about the obvious political factor inherent to any community project she might have to do on the subject.

“What I can lead a climate resilience program with is nothing, I know nothing about it,” said Thompson. “And I mean, is there some climate change? Everybody has an opinion.

“… My opinion is that some people are going to say ‘absolutely there’s no such thing,’ and the next person is going to say ‘Oh my gosh everything’s terrible.’”

However, beyond whether she agrees with the national priorities, Thompson told commissioners that there’s simply too much for a part-time emergency manager to keep up with.

She told the Transcript on Monday, “There’s just not enough time to get it all done, that’s the big thing. I only have 12 hours a week to do all of this in, and it's gotten to be a lot.”

She added, “We’re a very small county, and they’re treating us the same as they treat Hennepin County in Minnesota, where they probably have eight people that work in their office. It’s hard with just one part-time person to get everything done that they’re starting to require.”

Commissioners sympathized with Thompson, and also expressed frustration over the grant’s mounting requirements.

Commissioner Glenda Collier recalled having the same conversation this time a year ago, when additional requirements that year were already pushing Thompson’s workload to the limit.

“There’s not enough time in the week, I mean you also work part time at the health unit,” said Collier. “... We don’t need to lose you. I feel that you’re more important to us than this grant is.”

Thompson noted, however, that if they elect not to apply for the EMPG grant, then the county is not allowed to reapply again until there is a different emergency manager.

Both Collier and Commissioner Dave Gehrtz said that’s fine with them, and with that, a motion not to reapply for the EMPG grant was carried unanimously. Commissioner Jamie Allmaras was not present.

Speaking to the Transcript on Monday, Thompson assured residents and taxpayers that grant funding for emergency management will still be pursued by the county.

“The EMPG grant is the only one we have decided we are not looking at,” said Thompson. “Typically all the other grants are for structural things like generators, or if there’s damage for roads – all of those grants we will continue to go after.”