11/19/2009
DUANE SCHRAG
A series of meetings asking Saline County residents for their views on what events pose the greatest threat and what the best mitigation strategy might be is to begin right after the first of the year.
Public meetings are to be arranged in New Cambria, Gypsum, Assaria, Brookville, Smolan and Salina.
Dean Speaks, interim director of Saline County Emergency Management, told a group of about 50 people Thursday afternoon that the federal government makes money available to states every year for disaster mitigation, but only counties with mitigation plans in place are eligible for the grants.
If a project qualifies for funding, the program pays 75 percent of the cost.
The series of meetings is an early step in developing the mitigation plans that will make Saline County eligible for the grants.


Read the rest of this story in Friday's Salina Journal.