PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County’s Department of Emergency Management director requested additional funding for training for staff and noted a close watch on precarious funding from federal sources.
Willie Bence acknowledged his awareness of the county’s direction of tightening its spending in the coming budget, but he said his department (DEM), budgeted for $353,000 in 2024, has been historically underfunded, and for that reason, he did not see anywhere to make cuts.
He asked for added funding of $10,131 to expand on the department’s current training budget, which pays for travel, lodging and other costs associated with training.
“Right now, our travel and training budget annually has been $2,500, which simply is not enough to support training, professional development and networking for our six staff, nevermind our volunteers,” Bence said.
The DEM has not been sufficiently resourced to attain the training necessary to meet the credentialing standards required by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or the state to play a role in emergency responses, Bence said.
“The FEMA credentialing is an absolute pipe dream for a jurisdiction as small as ours,” he continued. “The state does have credentialing requirements, but even then, those are too lofty for us to meet. So we looked at other similarly sized counties and what their credentialing plans were and adopted one that was more realistic and feasible for us.”
Bence said he has not been to the state emergency management conference since 2018.
He added he wouldn’t make the request if he didn’t see it as serious and necessary to DEM’s operations.
“I’m trying to support my five staff members, I’m trying to support the growth and development of volunteers, and honestly, reward our volunteers a little bit,” Bence said. “They put in a ton of work, do a lot of work that’s not particularly fun or glamorous behind the scenes.”
In addition to county funds, the DEM receives funding from FEMA through the State Homeland Security Grant Program and the Emergency Management Performance Grants.
The department relies heavily on the FEMA grants. Following an optimistic outlook in August, a first official review received last week was concerning, Bence said.
“Our grant status is in a very precarious position right now,” Bence said. “I’m not requesting any action other than your awareness that we’re going to be watching this incredibly closely.”
The homeland security grant cut 26 percent of its funding across the board in Washington state, he said. Other states were cut by as much as 50 percent or 60 percent, he added.
The DEM gets about $37,000 from that grant and would lose about $9,000 if those numbers aligned.
FEMA denied 95 percent of Washington state projects overall, Bence said.
The state is confident that it can fund community-level projects by nestling them under four main funded projects, Bence said.
A previous requirement from FEMA for an attestation that recipients would participate in and support federal immigration enforcement activities was removed following a successful lawsuit, Bence said.
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes FEMA, has pivoted to include a new requirement for recipients to provide information on immigrant numbers.
“Nevermind the fact that Washington wouldn’t want to provide that. We can’t, we don’t have it,” Bence said.
The requirement is likely to lead to another lawsuit, Bence said.
Further complications may arise from a reduced time period for spending the grants, brought down from three to one year and potential delays brought on by the federal government shutdown.
The county budget pays for the two full-time employees, but the four part-time employees, who each work for 16 hours a week, are paid for by FEMA grants, which are facilitated by the state Emergency Management Division.
“They’re a significantly valuable resource,” Bence said.
The part-time staff often have worked unpaid beyond their budgeted hours, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bence said.
“We were all running around like our heads were on fire,” he said. “We paid them for 16 hours and then they would donate so much of their time.”
Bence said he has spoken with his staff about the situation and that they are funded through the end of the year.
The department is supported by a strong base of volunteers who augment the department’s workforce significantly, Bence said. Among those groups is the Community Emergency Response Team, the HAM radio operators of the Volunteer Emergency Communications Operators and the Medical Reserve Corps.
The smallest county department, DEM is responsible for facilitating disaster response preparedness programs.
“We maintain the readiness of the Emergency Operations Center, which is the coordinating mechanism that brings together all of the county’s different public safety agencies, from law enforcement to fire to PUD to public works to public health, the hospital, the Red Cross, KPTZ is a member of that team,” Bence said.
The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was activated four times this summer, twice for wildfires, once for a tsunami warning and once in preparatory action as JeffCom was doing some upgrades and maintenance that might have taken its service down temporarily.
The DEM also is responsible for writing and conducting emergency planning. Earlier this year, the state and FEMA approved the department’s comprehensive emergency management plan and its hazard mitigation plan, Bence said. The department also is writing a comprehensive wildfire evacuation plan and supporting the county in writing a business continuity plan, he added.
In addition, the department organizes education and community outreach events.
“We work with NPREP neighborhoods to conduct disaster preparedness outreach,” Bence said. “We have a monthly talk at the library. There’s all-county Preparedness Day. The list goes on.”
_________
Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.
