A new municipal office in Black Mountain has been created with the goal of helping the town recover from Tropical Storm Helene and prepare for any future events.
The Office of Recovery and Resiliency was announced by the town in a July 1 news release and will be led by Assistant Town Manager Jessica Trotman.
Trotman told Black Mountain News the office was created in part to organize what was already being done for recovery from Helene.
“This is a long process and, as an organization, it just makes it easier to ground it,” Trotman said. “It makes it easier for all the staff to interface with something that’s centralized.”
The new office is housed within the administration department. Trotman said existing staff will work in the office, but she doesn’t “know what that will look like in the future.”
Town Manager Josh Harrold said in the news release that the office was created in response to Helene.
“Helene was a devastating storm that tested every part of our infrastructure and emergency systems,” Harrold said in the release. “The creation of this office is a direct response to that challenge. It reflects our commitment to rebuilding smarter, not just replacing what was lost, but creating systems and structures that will serve and protect Black Mountain for generations to come.”
For recovery efforts, the office will “coordinate dozens of recovery and infrastructure projects across the town,” according to the news release. Trotman said the town decided to include resiliency in the office to prepare for future events.
“Mitigation resiliency is a very collaborative effort and so this work will encompass all departments,” Trotman said. “Resiliency doesn’t mean that nothing bad happens ever again. It means you bend instead of breaking.”
She said “there is currently a lot of funding coming out from different agencies” for Helene-related projects and the town is “aggressively pursuing” these funding sources. Trotman said an example of what this funding could be used for is addressing “redundancies in systems” such as the drinking water system. She said hardening the infrastructure of the drinking water system also needs to be addressed.
“It also means making sure our staff has as much training as possible on how to respond to these events and increasing the capacity of the community to know how to be prepared and manage their property,” Trotman said. “That can make it a confusing conversation, but that’s why it’s a long-term conversation.”
Trotman was able to provide updates on some Helene recovery projects around Black Mountain:
- Materials have been ordered for the River Walk Dog Park.
- Damaged green stormwater infrastructure projects are under contract. Trotman said this project needed to wait for the new fiscal year, which started July 1.
- Debris is being cleaned up in Veterans Park.
- A request for qualification for architectural engineering services will close soon.
Trotman said the town is “very busy” and working on things “behind the scenes” that will be announced soon.
She said working with the community and communication with the community is also part of this new office.
“Just don’t forget about it and keep bringing it back up,” Trotman said. “The communication is a long game in this work with the community. The further we get away from the story, the harder it is to remind people why we have to do things differently.”
Karrigan Monk is the Swannanoa Valley communities reporter for Black Mountain News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kmonk@blackmountainnews.com.
