An all-hazard mitigation plan that qualifies DeKalb County and participating municipalities for state and federal grant funding is due for an update, and the public has an opportunity to share their thoughts with those who will prepare the next plan.

At 4 p.m. on June 11, the DeKalb County Hazard Mitigation Committee will host a public meeting in the Gathertorium of the DeKalb County Legislative Center, 200 N. Main St., Sycamore, to discuss updates to the five-year all-hazard mitigation plan.

The public is invited to comment on the plan during the meeting, according to a news release from the DeKalb County Emergency Services Disaster Agency.

In the release, David Aranda, the agency’s coordinator, wrote that the hazard mitigation plan will identify ways that government and private sectors can reduce risks to safety, health and property damage from natural hazards.

Those hazards can include floods, severe storms, winter storms, tornadoes and more. That doesn’t mean mitigation efforts are about controlling floodwaters and or stopping tornadoes, however.

“These hazards are natural phenomena and, in many cases, mitigation means adjusting what people do in the face of this natural activity,“ Aranda wrote.

An updated DeKalb County All Hazards Mitigation Plan would have to be approved by the DeKalb County Board and the various municipalities that participate before the plan can be formally adopted. The June 11 meeting is an early step in that process, but one that is designed for public input.

Once adopted, DeKalb County and the municipalities that participate in the plan will remain eligible for Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency hazard mitigation grant funding.

“DeKalb County is subject to natural hazards that threaten life and health and have caused extensive property damage in the past,” Aranda wrote. “Again, while these hazards are acts of nature, the impacts on residents, public facilities, businesses and private property can be reduced through hazard mitigation.”