Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities

No, counties are not required to complete the plan, but every county is encouraged to because it will ensure everyone is better prepared in the event of a disaster. If a county chooses not to complete a plan, then the county will not be eligible for future hazard mitigation grant program and pre-disaster mitigation funding for projects.

During the mitigation planning process, each jurisdiction should include individuals from agencies involved in hazard mitigation activities, agencies with the authority to regulate development, and offices responsible for enforcing local ordinances are important members of the planning team.  This is a good time to include businesses, academia, and other private and nonprofit interests to build a preparedness team to be able to collaborate ideas and resources to respond when a disaster occurs. The public should also be invited to participate in all aspects of the plan. Documentation needs to be kept as to how the public and others were invited and document who attends the meetings. 

The county should submit the plan to SDOEM for review to ensure that no changes need to be made. If our office determines that no changes need to be made, the county and all entities that were involved in the plan should formally adopt the plan. Our office will need copies of all entities' adoption of the plan.

The county is required to review and update the plan every five years; however, it is a good idea to review plans every year to keep it up to date.