Benton County Hazard Mitigation Survey

We need your help! Benton County is in the process of revising the Hazard Mitigation Plan. The purpose is to identify disaster risks & determine how to manage them. We need your input to meet FEMA requirements.

Benton County and all the cities in the County are in the process of revising the county’s Multi-Jurisdictional All-Hazard Mitigation Plan.  The purpose of this plan is to identify and assess our disaster risks and determine how to best minimize or manage those risks.  Upon completion, the revised plan will be presented to the Benton County Board of Supervisors and the City Council of each community for adoption and then submitted to Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEMD) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for review and approval. This process was started in January 2015 and is estimated to take 13 months.

What we really need for the plan in order to meet FEMA requirements is citizen input. Meetings will be held periodically in the county regarding the plan and the planning process.  Notices will be posted around Benton County and in Benton County newspapers.  However, we realize that many citizens with valuable input either cannot or do not wish to participate in the meetings. Therefore, we have developed a survey for you to complete that will help us secure the information we need.

Please take the time to complete the survey and return it to the city clerk, Benton County EMA, or the address at the end of the form. And PLEASE be certain to provide the documentation we ask for at the bottom of this letterhead. This documentation is necessary for us to meet the FEMA requirements for an approved plan. By noting the time it takes you to complete this survey it also helps us meet FEMA’s requirements for volunteer in kind match that is necessary for the grant Benton County received for this project. The monetary rate that was used for the in-kind match is the standard rate for planning services established at $27.60 per hour.”

This survey questionnaire provides an opportunity for you to share your opinions and participate in the mitigation planning process.  The information you provide will help us better understand your hazard concerns and identify area policies and projects that can help lessen the impact of future hazard events.