County Steering Committees

 BRADD worked through County Steering Committees to update several regional plans, including the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan. Additionally, these County Steering Committees continue to work to implement the goals and objectives outlined in the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan. To learn more about these committees, and join your local steering committee, explore the information below.

What Is a Steering Committee Why Work Through Steering Committees Role of the Steering Committee Who Serves on the Steering Committee How Are the Committees Working and Meeting How Do I Get Involved When is the Next Meeting

What is a County Steering Committee?

As the name suggests, the County Steering Committee is a group of people who steer and guide the process of strategic planning within the county. County Steering Committees are working-groups made up of a variety of stakeholders from private citizens to elected officials, community leaders to students and activists. These volunteers provide advice, support, and guidance regarding hazard mitigation planning, community resiliency planning, and overall strategic planning at the county level. With regard to Hazard Mitigation Planning specifically, County Steering Committees have members from each incorporated city within the region. This allows for every jurisdiction to have an active voice in the planning effort and prevents the planning process from being centered around counties exclusively.

Working with BRADD staff, this committee examines any existing plans in the county (from city-level comprehensive plans to county emergency management plans) and uses that work to draft a county-specific Strategic Plan. This Strategic Plan takes a holistic look at existing efforts within the county and provides a dedicated Action Plan with SMART Goals and Objectives for Counties to begin to implement their plans and reach their own goals.

Why is BRADD working through County Steering Committees?

Area Development Districts are tasked with updating two regional plans: the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and the Regional Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan. Both of these plans have to be rewritten/updated every 5 years and both of these plans were due for their update with finalized plans due in 2022. Further, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) has provided some federal funding to KY’s Area Development Districts for resiliency planning. In an effort to best use our resources and be respectful of your time, we have decided to take a holistic approach this year and combine all of these efforts under one planning process. 

To do this, we asked each of our 10 counties to establish or convene a county-level Steering Committee. In some cases, counties may have already had a planning committee at the county level in place. If that was the case, we would work with existing committees. If a county did not have such a committee, we helped to create one.


What is the role of the County Steering Committee?

The Steering Committee’s role is to provide advice, guidance, and information to ensure the creation of a County Strategic Plan. Additionally, the Steering Committee will provide key local information to various Regional Plans including the Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan and Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy.

Additionally, the Steering Committee will review county assets and needs, discuss how various hazards could impact their communities, and prioritize projects for implementation relating to county goals and objectives.


Who serves on the County Steering Committee?

The county-level Steering Committee should be composed of a variety of strategic stakeholders, and in order to fulfill FEMA requirements and get the information we will need to update our regional Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan, the following individuals should have some sort of representation on each county committee:

  • City Council/Board of Commissioners 
  • County Magistrates
  • City Mayors
  • Planning/Community Development Agencies
  • Special Districts (Libraries, Health Departments, School Districts etc.) 
  • Building Code Enforcement 
  • Emergency Management
  • Fire Department/Districts 
  • Extension Office
  • Industrial Development Authority 
  • Chamber of Commerce 
  • Community Action
  • Long Term Care Facilities
  • Public Works 
  • Stormwater Management 
  • Transportation (Roads/Bridges) 
  • Nonprofit organizations such as Red Cross, Historic Preservation, Large Church Organizations, Conservation Organizations, International Center, etc.
  • Lending institutions
  • Small business owners
  • Citizen members

For a list of active Steering Committee members by county,  click here.

How Are the Steering Committees Working and Meeting?

For the 2027 plan update, the County-level Steering Committees will meet with BRADD staff every other month from January 2026 to December 2026 in order to gather information to funnel back into the regional plan, review any existing county-level plans, craft county-level strategic plans, and set goals/objectives and working steps for implementation of those plans. In 2027, committees will continue to meet quarterly in order to maintain and implement the plan.

A live version of each county’s strategic plan can be viewed at the Community Profiles page.


How do I get Involved in my local County Steering Committee?

To get connected with your local County Steering Committee, contact your local County Judge/Executive or email  planning@bradd.org.


Below is a listing of upcoming Steering Committee Meetings. This listing can also be viewed on the Upcoming Events page.