PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city's updated Hazard Mitigation Plan is headed towards final review.

On Monday, community members and public officials mulled disaster preparedness at the Ralph J. Froio Senior Center.  Pittsfield's 2019 plan is due for an update so the city stays eligible for grant funding and, of course, prepared.

"Mitigation planning is the foundation for establishing where the city would like to direct its risk reduction efforts, how it would like to build community resilience through the whole breadth of natural hazard events that it is at risk to. It brings people together and organizations to develop strategies, to build ideas for projects, to do things through, say, plans or regulations, outreach activities, and so on," said Darrin Punchard of Jamie Caplan Consulting.

"These hazard mitigation plans, 25 years ago, became a requirement for cities and towns across the United States in order to be eligible for certain grant programs."

Pittsfield recently partnered with Berkshire Medical Center for a nearly $2 million Hazard Mitigation Grant toward backup generators at the hospital.  

"These are key grant funding programs that have come through the federal government, but in order to access and be eligible for that type of funding, you have to prepare these plans and update them every five years," Punchard explained.

"So that's the purpose of this plan document is really to build community resilience, but also, very importantly, maintain grant funding eligibility for the city."

The Hazard Mitigation Plan, last updated in 2019, focuses the city's limited resources on areas of greatest risk, helps build partnerships with organizations outside of the city, and increases public awareness. Punchard added that the plan can also align with other city objectives, but "saving lives and money, that's the main focus, of course, of hazard mitigation."