Mitigation Plan Money Appropriated By Craighead County QC

The decision to hire a Tennessee-based company to complete a hazard mitigation plan for Craighead County brought a lot of back-and-forth Monday as Craighead County and Jonesboro officials debated over how the process was done.

Craighead County justices voted 12-0 to appropriate $45,000 for Nashville-based Bold Consulting to build the plan.

The plan, based on a five-year model, will allow county officials to make improvements to an overall emergency operations plan.

Jonesboro 911 director Jeff Presley challenged county officials on the issue, saying a Memphis-based company, Fisher and Arnold, had worked with the city of Jonesboro for five months to help create a plan.

Presley said the lack of a plan has hurt both the city and county.

“We have lost millions due to not having one,” Presley said. “Was there a committee to help make the decision? We were eight years out of date on a plan and six years out of date on a mitigation plan.”

However, Tony Thomas, administrative assistant for Craighead County Judge Ed Hill, countered the county has not lost disaster funding from either state or federal officials due to not having a mitigation plan.

Presley, who has worked in emergency services for over a quarter-century, said a plan can help officials be prepared if and when a disaster happens.

Thomas also said the county judge’s office has control over emergency issues in the county and that Hill’s office began negotiating with Fisher Arnold in July 2014 on a plan.

According to a letter from Hill to the company provided to Talk Business and Politics, Hill spelled out the discussions with the city of Jonesboro and state emergency officials on the issue.

The letter from Hill to the company’s grant manager, Vic Young, reads in part:

“I am in receipt of the information you forwarded via email on Monday, July 28 to LM Duncan with the City of Jonesboro. After reviewing this information, my office did contact personnel with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM). They expressed no major concerns with beginning work on this project. Therefore, I am approving David Moore to begin the process of working with you on this project,” Hill wrote.

“Per your email, Fisher Arnold will donate time for a two month period at no charge and with no contract. You also indicated that if no consultant is hired by the end of the two month period that this work would cease. I have been advised to make clear that Craighead County is not liable for payment of ANY work that is completed prior to the selection of a consultant through the appropriate procurement process. This procurement process will be open to all vendors and the preliminary work does not guarantee selection of Fisher Arnold during that process, nor will the preliminary work be considered during the selection process unless it is made available to all vendors. The work beginning now cannot be used to provide an unfair advantage to a specific vendor per procurement guidelines.

“I also wanted it clear that there was no commitment by ADEM to provide funding to any entity in Craighead County if the plan has started. In fact, ADEM made it clear that no hazard mitigation funding is available until there is an approved plan in place, not work in progress on a plan. ADEM also indicated that there was no current funding available for entities in Craighead County. We did express our need to secure funding for creation of the plan and our desire to complete the plan as soon as possible.”

During the meeting, Thomas told Presley that the county’s research showed that Fisher and Arnold had worked mainly on grant issues while Bold Consulting had worked with 15 to 18 counties in the state on building a plan.

Thomas said county officials are awaiting documentation from Bold Consulting before implementing the $45,000 contract.

It will take nearly a year before the five-year mitigation plan can take effect, Thomas said.