A sample building code to make structures more resilient to natural disasters.
A way to track structural development in river corridors.
An inventory of floodplains storage areas that could be used to reduce the impact of flooding.
These are among the prioritized actions listed in the 2018 State Hazard Management Plan that, five years later, Vermont state officials still had not completed, according to a new report from the state auditor.
The report found most of the mitigation actions suggested by the plan were not completed, including actions marked as “priorities” by Vermont Emergency Management.
The 2018 plan had 96 actions; by 2023, only 33% had been implemented. For the 24 actions listed as priorities, only 10 had been completed. The report also found discrepancies in actions reported as completed, caused in part by staff turnover at partnering agencies.
Additionally, the audit notes, the state did not evaluate the effectiveness of the 2018 plan.
FEMA requires statewide hazard mitigation plans for state governments to receive funding from the agency. The state plan is separate from local hazard mitigation plans, which FEMA requires for local governments to receive certain forms of funding. The statewide plan is updated and submitted for approval to FEMA every five years; the most recent plan was released in 2023.
“It’s a plan that outlines what the hazards are for your state and how you might mitigate them,” said Eric Forand, director of Vermont Emergency Management. “And I said ‘might’ because it’s an operational plan, meaning that you develop ideas and thoughts and suggestions on how things will be mitigated and you work towards those goals, but it’s not necessarily a definitive outline of what will occur.”
The fact that the state is not required to complete the actions it sets out in the plan is a problem, said State Auditor Doug Hoffer.
Hoffer pointed to one incomplete action in the 2018 plan — developing sample building standards for resilient design and construction — as a missed opportunity to mitigate flood damage.
“If you’re going to go through the trouble to ask people in areas with expertise and experience, ‘What’s a good idea? How can we mitigate some of these problems going forward?’, then arguably you should follow up on it,” Hoffer said. “So if you know, because they’re in the plan, that they’re likely to produce positive results, why not do it? I don’t know the answer, but we thought they weren’t really following up.”
In response, Forand said Vermont Emergency Management is still in the planning and consulting stages of creating a state-level code, as the state needs to determine the feasibility of the project, how in-depth it needs to be, and how to handle the delineation between local and state control.
While flooding is a top issue in Vermont — both the 2018 and 2023 reports list river erosion and inundation flooding as the first and second most significant hazards in the state — the plan also covers other disasters, like heat, cold, drought and even earthquakes.
The report also noted the fact that, while the plan lists infectious disease outbreaks as a mid-level risk, it does not recommend any actions. Forand said that’s because the actions the state can take before an outbreak is limited; in Emergency Management’s view, it’s the response to an outbreak that matters, and that’s under the purview of the health department.
But, Forand said, the mitigation plan is a “living document,” with Emergency Management issuing a report containing updates every year. The next update will cover outbreaks.
Sarah Clark, the interim secretary of administration, pointed to $60 million in funding for the Community Resilience and Disaster Mitigation Fund and the Flood Resilient Communities Fund as actions the state and Legislature have taken since the 2023 hazard mitigation plan was published.
In a joint response to the report, Clark and Jennifer Morrison, commissioner for the Department of Public Safety, said they will ensure a group of secretaries and commissioners will monitor and evaluate the plan.
That process, like the unfinished mitigation actions, was already laid out in the plan. It just needed to be acted on.
“These are very busy people, and if it’s not made a priority, then it’s not surprising that, you know, they’ve got a full plate and things to do,” Hoffer said. “But this is one of them. And it really hasn’t gotten the attention that it, arguably, deserves.”
Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message. Or contact the reporter directly at corey.dockser@vermontpublic.org.
