By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The city of Alabaster will be eligible to receive Federal Emergency Management Authority money in the event of a major disaster after the City Council signed off on the county’s hazard mitigation plan during a Jan. 9 meeting.

During the meeting, council members voted unanimously to approve the county hazard mitigation plan after hearing from Shelby County Emergency Management Agency Supervisor Hub Harvey during a pre-meeting work session.

Harvey said each county is required to have a hazard mitigation plan, and said Shelby County’s includes sections for each of the county’s jurisdictions.

“We met with the fire department, police department, public works, all the major players in the city about one-and-a-half years ago when we were formulating this plan,” Harvey told council members. “The state EMA and FEMA have already signed off on it.”

The hazard mitigation plan outlines the action plan for the county and each of its local jurisdictions should a major disaster occur there, Harvey said. In addition to detailing emergency response, the plan also makes the county and all municipalities who approve it eligible for FEMA mitigation funds after a major disaster.

“It does not cost the city a penny to be a part of this,” Harvey said. “If we had another April 27, heaven forbid, or if the ice this past weekend had knocked out power to the entire county, who is going to pay for that? It’s mitigation dollars post-disaster from FEMA.”