Goodhue County News Release
June 5, 2023
Contact: Earl Merchlewitz
Goodhue County Emergency Management Director
Phone: 651.267.2629
Email: earl.merchlewitz@co.goodhue.mn.us
Goodhue County residents, community leaders, business owners, area agencies and organizations now have an opportunity to share how severe weather events impact their property and lives. There is also an opportunity to share their ideas on how to reduce local impacts in the future.
The Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office – Division of Emergency Management is working with U-Spatial at the University of Minnesota Duluth to update the county’s Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP). The plan assesses the natural hazards that pose risk to the county, such as tornadoes, straight line winds, ice storms, blizzards, wildfire, flooding, and extreme temperatures and identifies ways to minimize the damage of future events. As the county works to update the plan, it wants to hear from the public.
The Goodhue County HMP is a multi-jurisdictional plan that incorporates the concerns and needs of cities, townships, school districts, and area agencies or organizations participating in the plan. Representatives from county departments, local municipalities, school districts and other key stakeholders will aid in planning. When completed, the plan will be submitted to the Minnesota Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for approval.
Public input is an essential part of the plan update. As part of the planning process, Goodhue County is seeking feedback from residents and businesses from across the county to incorporate into the plan:
- What are the natural hazards you feel pose the greatest risk to your community?
- What concerns do you have, and what sorts of actions do you feel would help to reduce damages of future hazard events in your community or the county as a whole?
Comments, concerns, or questions regarding natural disasters and potential mitigation actions to be included into the plan update should be submitted to the Emergency Management Division by phone, email, or by posting a comment via a social media posting of this article.
There will be additional opportunities for public feedback throughout the planning process. A draft of the plan will be made available for public review prior to submission of the plan to the State of Minnesota. Future news releases will be shared with the media to notify the public of these opportunities.
The Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000) requires counties to update their plan every 5 years to maintain eligibility for FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant programs.