By Ryan Lewis
Correspondent
JASPER, Tenn. — Marion County commissioners have turned to a man used to handling disasters to create the county’s hazard mitigation plan.
The board unanimously approved Steve Lamb for the job last week, citing his 16 years of experience as the county’s emergency management director.
The hazard mitigation plan will involve identifying vulnerabilities throughout the county and creating a comprehensive plan to correct those issues. County Mayor David Kirk said Lamb is the right man for the job.
“We’re required by law to have a hazard mitigation plan,” he said. “We have to hire a planner to draw this thing up, and Mr. Lamb is very familiar with all of this.”
Lamb said that, even though the plan will take a lot of time to create, he’s ready for the task.
“I feel like I’m qualified to do it,” he said. “You don’t see me unless there’s a disaster, but I spend a lot of time working in the county, maintaining the current emergency management plan.”
Once the new hazard plan is in place, the county will be eligible for state and federal grant money to make the corrections, officials said.
If there was flooding in the county and a road washed out, right now that road would have to be put back to its original state, Lamb said, but that might not be the case under the hazard plan.
“If you have a hazard mitigation plan, you can make the modifications to prevent something like that from happening again,” he said. “There’s a number of things that this plan can do for us.”
Lamb said the plan will require the cooperation of all city governments in the county.
“Every municipality will have to sign off on the plan,” he said. “It’s going to take a lot of time [to complete it].”
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com