Hattiesburg, MS

Meet Nathan

Nathan Satcher serves as the Senior Planner for the City of Hattiesburg, where his responsibilities span reviewing all types of development, including subdivisions, new construction, and site redevelopment. Nathan also assists in drafting codes and ordinances for the city and plays a key role in corridor studies. As the city’s Floodplain Manager and Coordinator, he is responsible for managing the Community Rating System (CRS) documentation and reporting, ensuring Hattiesburg remains compliant with floodplain management regulations.

A Small Community Faces the Challenges of Flooding

For Nathan, Hattiesburg is more than just a place of work; it’s home. He takes immense pride in helping his town grow, knowing that his efforts directly contribute to its future. With a strong sense of ownership, Nathan is dedicated to ensuring the city’s growth aligns with its needs to balance environmental concerns.

The city’s location along the Leaf River and its tributaries has made it particularly susceptible to flooding, with significant events occurring in the 1970s and the 1980s, leading to redevelopment efforts. The city has worked with FEMA on buyouts and has collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to implement drainage improvements in the center of the city. The unique nature of the Pascagoula Watershed, one of the few undammed watersheds in the continental U.S., has made floodplain management particularly challenging as it is home to a diverse ecosystem that requires careful management. 

Managing Flood Risk in Hattiesburg’s Vulnerable Communities

Over the years, Nathan has learned several valuable lessons in managing flood risk and the importance of communicating with residents. A significant challenge is educating residents about the risk of living in or near flood zones, especially for residents who have not personally experienced flooding. 

In Hattiesburg, flood zones are often also concentrated in under-resourced communities. Nathan understands that implementing additional flood risk measures in these areas can be difficult. For Nathan, balancing floodplain management with the needs of residents is crucial, especially for residents consistently affected by flood zone regulations.

Nathan first discovered Forerunner when he took on the role of CRS Coordinator for Hattiesburg. In search of resources to bolster the city's CRS efforts, he found Forerunner and was excited by its potential to support Hattiesburg’s floodplain management initiatives. He was especially eager to leverage the platform to streamline documentation, workflows, and track resident inquiries for the CRS program.

Data Centralization: Improving Property-Level Compliance and Communication

Forerunner has been an invaluable tool in managing Hattiesburg’s floodplain management challenges and streamlining internal workflows. Since the city spans two counties, Forerunner has helped centralize and organize its data into one accessible platform, making it easier to track compliance and communicate requirements consistently to municipal teams and the public across both counties.

Tracking and managing compliance has also become significantly easier for Nathan and his team. By looking at property profiles, the team is able to stay on top of key regulations and monitor Substantial Improvement and Substantial Damage (SI/SD) activity in alignment with the city’s 10-year cumulative SI/SD rule. All improvements, damages, and relevant compliance warnings are logged and easily accessible in each property’s profile, making it simple to flag potential issues early. When a property is determined to be substantially damaged, the team can use the Forerunner app to generate and send Substantial Damage letters directly to residents, streamlining communication and transparency with the public. Property profiles are also regularly shared with residents to ensure they understand their property’s compliance status and any associated warnings.

Additionally, the platform’s user-friendly interface and geospatial dashboard make it easy for departments beyond floodplain management to access essential data, such as base flood elevations and flood zone boundaries. This has enhanced communication around new development and site planning, helping staff work more efficiently together. 

Streamlined CRS Workflows

In the fall of 2024, Hattiesburg completed a successful CRS annual review with the help of Forerunner. Previously, relevant documentation, such as Elevation Certificates (ECs) and call logs, was scattered across various platforms and servers. With Forerunner, all flood-related documents and public input requests are centralized in one location. Forerunner’s Elevation Certificate error detection tool helped Nathan and his team quickly spot and correct mistakes on critical documents in advance of their review. Additionally, the consolidation of information into data tables streamlined exports and simplified Hattiesburg’s CRS review process. Forerunner was instrumental in improving the team’s efficiency in managing requirements for the CRS, and has simplified their floodplain and compliance work.

The Future of Resilience in Hattiesburg

Looking ahead, Nathan is excited to see how Forerunner continues to evolve and how future innovations will benefit Hattiesburg’s floodplain management efforts, particularly with the addition of artificial intelligence to the platform. He views Forerunner as an important resource for communities like Hattiesburg in managing floodplain risks and improving flood resilience.

Nathan’s work in Hattiesburg highlights the critical role of effective floodplain management in building resilient communities.