County Adopts North Central Multi-Hazard, Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan Commissioners Luci Larson, Dave Smith and Monte Shadwick moved to accept a five year regional hazard mitigation plan, that replaces one adopted in 2010 and that expires this year. Commissioner John Price voted “no”, saying he doesn’t support FEMA, “wishes it doesn’t exist” and noted it has “too many rules”. Commissioner Jim Gile did not vote. The 900 page North Central (Region F) Multi-Hazard, Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan can be found on the county’s website, www.saline.org, under Emergency Management. EM Director Hannah Stambaugh said the county, communities, and institutional educational entities participated in developing this plan, in a multi-year process. Commissioner Dave Smith asked if the plan committed the county to federal decision making that would override county decision making. As stated in the Request for Action, “although this is a Regional plan, our county and jurisdictions that lie within did not relinquish their autonomy over any decisions made for their” communities. Each of the Saline County jurisdictions were “able to contribute to the plan without having a central governing entity dictating what hazard mitigation projects they wished to identify.” Stambaugh said that Salina’s Oakdale School is building a safe room that is being paid for out of hazard mitigation money. The plan “assists with identifying hazards, assessing vulnerabilities and calculating overall risk which allows for better planning and preparation for all hazards facing the county.” October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month The Commission adopted a proclamation declaring October as Domestic Violence Awareness month. Shelia Beeson, of DVACK, told Commissioners that the: • Number of victims served by DVACK increased by 13%. • Number of victims who received safe shelter increased by 53%. DVACK provided safe shelter to 196 men, women and children for a total of 4,833 nights of stay. • Crisis Hotline Calls have doubled. • DVACK provided 15,174 units of services to victims including but not limited to crisis intervention, counseling, safety planning, information and referral, criminal and civil court advocacy, assistance with protection orders and emergency assistance. Beeson, who serves as DVACK’s Teen Dating Violence Coordinator, says she works with individuals 16 years old and older. Her work focuses on helping individuals set boundaries and respect each other. DVACK serves survivors of teen dating violence, stalking, sexual assault, domestic violence, human trafficking and elder abuse in Saline, Dickenson, Ellsworth, Mitchell, Cloud, Ottawa, Jewell, Lincoln, Republic and Washington Counties. DVACK provides educational presentations to schools, clubs, organizations, churches and businesses. Salina’s office is at 203 S Santa Fe; phone (785) 827-5862. Concordia’s office is at 336 W 5th Street; phone (785) 243-4349. DVACK’s 24 hour hotline is 1-800-874-1499. Miscellaneous Business • The Saline County Commission will move its regularly scheduled November 3rd meetings to Monday, November 2nd, as Commissioners will be attending the Kansas Association of Counties meeting in Wichita. • Commissioner John Price asked that the Commission devote a few minutes of time at each meeting to set agenda items. He said there was a “need to get garage doors up at Road and Bridge”. • Commissioners met in executive session three times. — Story by: Karen Shade for KSAL News Copyright © Alpha Media, 2015.  All Rights Reserved. No part of this story or website may be reproduced without Alpha Media’s express consent ]]>