The East Central Iowa Council of Governments invites public comment on a draft Johnson County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan through Dec. 31.

The initiative, funded through a grant program from the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division, seeks to create a unified hazard mitigation plan for the University of Iowa, and all schools, municipalities, and unincorporated areas of Johnson County.

Currently, the university and municipalities have their own mitigation plans (the UI’s more recent plan is available here). By updating and unifying their plans, organizations in the county will continue to be eligible to apply for funding through Homeland Security’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

The plan may be found at the ECICOG Hazard Mitigation website and anyone is invited to provide input via the comments section at that website,by email to Alicia Presto, a planner with the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, at alicia.presto@ecicog.org, or by mail to Presto at ECICOG on 700 Sixteenth Street NE, Suite 301, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402.

Those providing comments should include their city, affiliation (if applicable), and reference to the plan in the email subject line or back of the envelope if using email or mail to submit comments.

During the public input period, the plan will concurrently be reviewed by the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division. On Jan. 2, 2014, the finalized plan will be submitted for review and approval by the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region VII office.