The town of Clymer approved entering into Chautauqua County’s Multijurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan during their latest board meeting. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

CLYMER — The town of Clymer has approved being included in a part of the county’s multijurisdictional hazard mitigation plan.

“That’s a lot of words for basically something that the county put forth in front of Travis five years ago I believe,” Town Supervisor Brian Willink said at a recent Town Board meeting. “Basically what they are trying to do is get all of the municipalities in Chautauqua County to do hazard mitigation.”

Willink gave an example of flooding as a hazard mitigation plan, specifically because of the remnants of Hurricane Beryl that recently came through the area. The point of the plan is to look at what the municipalities in the county can and will do, who has what, and how to stop it.

“It’s kind of trying to pull all of the resources together from all of the communities, the villages and the town highways to see who has what,” Willink said. “So, when somebody in Silver Creek has flooding they know they can call Lakewood and say ‘hey, we know you have dikes, can you bring them up and use them?'”

Willink added that this plan was something that the county was taking charge of. He said that in order to be a part of that the board had to approve saying that they are entering into the plan. The board approved the resolution which said they recognize the threat that natural hazards pose to residents of the town and property, and will join the Chautauqua County Multijurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan to prepare for future natural hazards. The plan can be edited or remitted after submission for review but will not require the community to re-adopt any further iterations. Willink said this only applies to this plan and does not absolve the community from re-adopting the plan in five years.

OBSERVER Photo by Sara Holthouse

The town of Clymer approved entering into Chautauqua County’s Multijurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan during their latest board meeting.