SOUTH PARIS — The Oxford County Emergency Management Agency will host meetings around the county to facilitate the update of the Oxford County Hazard Mitigation Plan. The meetings are open to the public. The Hazard Mitigation Plan is the local municipalities’ key to receiving federal assistance via the grant process after State disaster declarations.

By participating in the planning process and identifying mitigation actions for each town, local municipalities are then eligible to compete for 15 percent of the declared disaster funding for the state, a minimum of $240,000. The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program is funded as a 75/25 split. Seventy-five percent of the grant request is provided by the federal government and 25 percent of the approved projects are funded by the town budget process or an in-kind match.

The in-kind match can range from donated materials to volunteer time. In this way, even towns that are not able to budget for improvements via mitigation actions can benefit from this program.

Each workshop will be broken into two sessions. Session one will run from 5 to 6:30 p.m.; session two, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The upcoming meetings are scheduled for:

Thursday, Nov. 5, at the Bethel Fire Department, 9 Mill Hill Road.

Monday, Nov. 9, at the Buckfield Town Office, 34 Turner St.

Thursday, Nov. 12, at the Paris Town Office, 33 Market Square.

Monday, Nov. 16, at the Fryeburg Town Office, 16 Lovewell Pond Road.

Wednesday, Nov. 18, at the Hiram Town Office, 25 Allard Circle.

Wednesday, Dec. 2, at the Oxford County EMA Office, 26 Western Ave., South Paris.

Anyone interested in attending one of the meetings or those who are unable to attend, but would like to contribute to the process, may contact their town office. Community member are asked to coordinate with their town office to confirm their attendance at one of the planning sessions and strive to attend that session to best facilitate citizen participation.

For more information, contact the EMA office at 743-6336 or e-mail [email protected].