The Community Rating System (CRS) committee has been an ongoing NJAFM committee. In 2010 the committee convened with NJDEP, ISO CRS specialists and municipal representatives to quantify the Uniform Credits available to communities in New Jersey. As a result, ISO agreed to formally award credits to each participating New Jersey community toward CRS ranking. The committee would like to benefit its members as a place for local floodplain administrators to by discuss ways to increase CRS points and decrease their community’s rating. The committee will meet quarterly or semi-annually to 1) help increase the uniform credits given to communities in the state of NJ and 2) to give each other ideas for increasing CRS points. CRS administrators would benefit from this committee by providing a forum for discussing ways to help their communities save money on flood insurance. The committee has four goals as listed below with proposed objectives and activities.
Committee Goals
Goal 1: Promote CRS participation throughout the State.Objective/Activity: Use the existing NJAFM communication channels to better promote CRS workshops and seminars offered by FEMA, NJOEM and others in State and region.
Goal 2: Support CRS communities in improving their CRS ratings.
Goal 3: Develop a long term support structure for CRS participants.
Goal 4: Promote CFM Certification for all CRS Directors/NFIP Floodplain Administrators (in association with the Training Committee).
- Objective/Activity: Work with FEMA, NJOEM and ISO to see how the NJAFM can help to promote CRS participation, through identifying regional needs and interest in informational workshops, and helping to facilitate such workshops by providing facilities and promoting attendance.
Goal 2: Support CRS communities in improving their CRS ratings.
- Objective: Survey CRS coordinators regionally to understand their interests and needs in CRS activity support.
- Activity: Develop county or regional tables of CRS communities and their point scores in the eighteen (18) CRS activity areas. This is useful as it allows CRS communities to see where others in their region are receiving credit, and which areas show low credit among all CRS communities with the region.
- Activity: Distribute the table along with a simple online survey (e.g. Survey Monkey) to all NFIP Administrators and/or CRS coordinators in the county or region to find out their main areas of interest in advancing their CRS ratings.
- Objective: Plan and develop regional CRS workshops focusing on those activities that have the greatest identified interest.
- Activity: Work with FEMA, ISO, NJOEM, NJAFM, and interested regional CRS coordinators to develop and present focused, regional CRS workshops. Our vision is that these workshops would be one-day long, focus on no more than two CRS activity areas, and maximize the use of local CRS activity implementation stories as presented directly by the local coordinators. Hopefully these workshops could count towards continuing education requirements of the CFM and other certification programs.
- Activity: Work with FEMA, ISO, NJOEM, NJAFM, and interested regional CRS coordinators to develop and present a focused CRS workshop on an activity area (or two) of general statewide interest (as determined by the survey process above) at the NJAFM annual conference.
Goal 3: Develop a long term support structure for CRS participants.
- Activity: As interested “experts” in certain activity areas are identified, promote them through the NJAFM as available resources.
Goal 4: Promote CFM Certification for all CRS Directors/NFIP Floodplain Administrators (in association with the Training Committee).
- Activity: Leverage our contacts and efforts with CRS Directors/NFIP Floodplain Administrators to promote an understanding and importance of the CFM certification.