By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has nixed awarding the town a sizable grant that would have been used to implement a new permitting system.
FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Grant Program provides disaster prevention aid to municipalities across the country. FEMA was scheduled to award the town an $80,302.50 grant for the new permitting system.
Department of Public Works (DPW) Geographic Information System (GIS) Coordinator/Field Inspector/Stormwater Manager Patrick McDonald wrote in an email sent to the Villager that the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) notified him on April 14 that FEMA’s BRIC Grant Program “will be discontinued going forward.”
“We recognize the impact of this decision and are available to answer any questions you may have or discuss ideas on other potential funding sources,” a MEMA representative stated in an email sent to McDonald. “We share in your disappointment with this news.”
McDonald said he submitted a Statement of Interest (SOI) for the grant on Dec. 11, 2023 that outlined “the proposed scope of work.” He said grant the grant sought to “develop and improve new software capabilities with an online building permitting system for electronic submission, consistent implementation and enforcement, inspections, transparency and collaboration between town departments.”
“Staff development and training is an important component of this system and should include enhanced reporting, review and town-wide planning efforts,” McDonald wrote in the SOI. “This system will integrate into a geographic information system for locational awareness and populated with ‘flags’ for all property conditions that affect building and infrastructure activities. The system will also enforce a business process to require sign-offs for other departmental approvals for new developments, and before any building is demolished, built or improved.”
McDonald said he submitted the BRIC grant application for the new permitting system on Jan. 11, 2024.
“MEMA’s application to FEMA had to be submitted by Feb. 29, 2024,” said McDonald. “The town of Lynnfield’s sub-application was included in the funding request application by MEMA to FEMA.”
McDonald said the town’s total funding request for the BRIC grant was $107,000, which he said included $80,000 from FEMA and $27,000 from the town.
Gov. Maura Healey stated in a press release that the Trump administration revoked $90 million in disaster aid from 18 communities including Lynnfield. The Trump administration also revoked grants awarded to MEMA, the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).
“In recent years, Massachusetts communities have been devastated by severe storms, flooding and wildfires,” stated Healey. “We rely on FEMA funding to not only rebuild, but also take steps to protect against future extreme weather. But the Trump administration has suddenly ripped the rug out from under cities and towns that had been promised funding to help them upgrade their roads, bridges, buildings and green spaces to mitigate risk and prevent disasters in the future. This makes our communities less safe and will increase costs for residents, municipalities and businesses.”
Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, who previously served as Salem’s mayor, agreed.
“As a former mayor, I know firsthand how cities and towns rely on FEMA funding to recover from disasters and prepare for the next storm,” stated Driscoll. “We urgently need to be making our communities more resilient, but the Trump administration is undermining this important work. Our administration is here to support our local leaders as much as we can, and we have impactful resilience programming underway, but we need the federal government to uphold their end of the bargain.”
Congressman Seth Moulton (D-Salem) was among more than two-dozen Democratic lawmakers who signed a letter sent to Interim FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton last week that urged FEMA to “reconsider this decision and restore the BRIC program to ensure that communities across the United States have the resources they need to protect their residents, infrastructure and economies from the devastating impacts of natural disasters.”
“Ending the FEMA BRIC program is a terrible mistake and marks a huge setback for many climate-vulnerable cities and towns in my district,” said Moulton in a statement. “On the North Shore, BRIC grants have helped coastal communities like Newburyport and Manchester update infrastructure and mitigate threats from sea level rise, flooding and storm surge. Other communities will now be denied that critical support. We are demanding answers and a course correction from the administration. It’s clear that they have no interest in supporting community efforts to protect critical infrastructure, public safety and our local economies.”
In addition to the $80,302.50 grant that will no longer be awarded to Lynnfield, Moulton said FEMA nixed two grants that would have been awarded to Rockport, including a $320,000 grant for the Thatcher Road corridor resilient design project. Rockport also had an $8,437 grant for building code capabilities enhancement pulled back. Moulton also said $50,250 for a drinking water and watershed regulations assessment and update grant will no longer be awarded to Newburyport.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March that stated, “It is the policy of the United States that state and local governments and individuals play a more active and significant role” with preparing for natural disasters.
“FEMA is a big disappointment,” said Trump during a press briefing about the Los Angeles wildfires in January. “We had it working well and we had great people, but FEMA is not good anymore. They don’t know what they are doing. I say you don’t need FEMA. You need a good state government. And when you have a problem in Los Angeles or when you have a problem even in the state of California, you essentially fix it yourself.”
The Fire Department received a $1,199,469.08 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant from FEMA last fall that was used to hire four additional career firefighters. The grant is paying the full cost of salaries and benefits of the four positions for the next three years.
The SAFER Grant Program provides funding directly to fire departments to assist in increasing the number of firefighters to help communities meet industry minimum standards and attain 24-hour staffing to provide adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards, and to fulfill traditional missions of fire departments.
While Town Administrator Rob Dolan proposed funding two of the four firefighters’ positions in the originally proposed $5 million Proposition 2 ½ override, the Select Board tabled that proposal last month after voting to scale back the proposed override to $4.65 million.
Spring Town Meeting voted on sending the proposed override to a Special Town Election on Tuesday, April 29, taking place after deadline.