Travis County Commissioners Court
September 23, 2008
Item 5
Now, number 5 5. Consider and take appropriate action on assistance from Travis County and residents to persons affected by hurricane ike, including: a, update from emergency services and health and human services departments and law enforcement officers and constables in response to hurricane and the need for assistance; and b, other related issues.
>> good morning, pete baldwin. I want to give you a quick overview, let sherri tell you more in depth what they have been doing. Our last bed count or shelter recount was Austin convention center had 360 residents there. The delco center had 91. That's been pretty constant over the last three to four days. The medical needs facility out at the pickle center, 36 patients, 10 caregivers, that gives us a total of 497. We were currently working with the Austin county and the city of galveston to identify other counties who are able to and want to return and they are looking at trying to find sheltering space there. So we will be working very closely with them to make sure those people who want to go back and who came to us by bus are made available to go back to their area of galveston, galveston county. Very quickly, we did some very gross numbers as far as expenditures and primarily what I have got are just some gross law enforcement costs associated. Some of these are broken out by overtime. Some of them are combined overtime and straight time, simply because different pay cycles. We will get all of that straightened out and give you a final report. Bottom line is we currently accounted for with scans constables and sheriff's office approximately $18,000 worth of over time combined straight and possible other additional overtime is close to $100,000 is what we have put in on the law enforcement side. So with that being said I will entertain any questions.
>> we have the ability -- at some point in time in the event that fema does pay someone for this, that we stand in line to be reimbursed with the out of pocket.
>> we have not gotten the rules down on this particular disaster regulations. We don't know if they are going to pay 100% of some costs, if they are going to pay 75, 25, but when we get all of that information together we will work with these agencies and their auditors and our grants people to make sure that we get every possible amount of money submitted for reimbursement.
>> any idea of when -- when some of the folks that are here the evacuees probably can maybe return to the homes of what's left, pretty dramatic, pretty devastating. But again one day someone will -- will return, anyone -- have anyone estimated approximately when they were -- maybe one -- everything has kind of been cleared and resolved.
>> galveston county is -- is the main land is open. Primarily the city of galveston the island, so devastated. In our latest conversations with them, daily conference calls with galveston officials. They are hoping to have something set up by tomorrow or Thursday where those people who want to return, we can at least get them back into a sheltering facility near their homes so they can start their restoration if possible. But the main land is open.
>> okay.
>> ms. Flemming.
>> good morning, sherri flemming executive manager for health and human services. As you are aware, last week you gave us permission to serve evacuees with food items and food pantry items and food vouchers. So far health and human services has been able to assist 69 households and 231 individuals with food pantries and those are food pantries that the -- that the food items are provided to us by the capital area food bank. Food voucher assistance has been provided to 25 households and 57 individuals. That is actually -- an actual voucher that -- that house holds or individuals can utilize and make their own food selections and generally we reserve those for persons who have special dietary needs. So far we have expended about $1,364 in food vouchers that we have awarded to individuals who identified as evacuees. We continue to support the efforts of -- of various entities in our community, specifically the city of Austin in staffing both the medical special needs shelter at the pickle center as well as the Austin convention center. It's important for us to -- to note to the community that -- that a disaster recovery center has been opened. At the givens recreational center. That is not a shelter situation. It is a mace for persons who are in our community -- a place for perps in our community and need to apply for -- persons in our community that need to apply for assistance for fema, by telephone or need to speak with someone in person. That is at givens at 3811 east 12th street. And they are open daly from 9:00 a.m. It's our understanding that they will be open 7 days a week until they, you know, notice that the workload is diminishing and then they'll announce different hours at that time. So it's important for persons who will have not been in the shelter situation to -- to have that opportunity to connect with fema. We also know that there is about 125 to 200 people who have been in the sheltering situation who may not qualify for fema assistance and so it is my understanding that there may be some potential for disaster relief non-profit agencies to -- to provide some assistance, but that is not confirmed at this time. So it is important to note that there are some -- some individuals in our community who have found that they do not qualify for fema assistance.
>> how is that? I really haven't been able to understand exactly on the one hand you qualify for certain things. Then when it comes to fema, you do not qualify. Of course these persons have been displaced. Is it existing insurance? How -- I really --
>> it is a very individualized process based on our understanding, Commissioner Davis. There are some residents that may be something as simple as verifying an address. Maybe the address is not matching up. It may be something simple like a family member being in a different place and so two people have applied so it could be something that's easy to clear up like that or countless other issues and problems that would be impacted by fema's requirements and eligibility. So I couldn't give you one particular reason why some people would not qualify.
>> okay.
>> a lot of it, Commissioner, has to deal with insurance, whether the home was insured. There's a lot of background things that go through. As sherri said, some of it is these people perhaps need birth certificates, of which they may not have brought with them. So it's the process of going through the state to get those, there are a number of things. But just an outright disaster declaration, whether you are eligible or not, quite a bit of it depends upon the income level and the amount of insurance that you have on that particular structure.
>> finally, fema has been working at the convention center, as of yesterday I believe, approximately 556 people were able to be housed in about 30 hotels under fema assistance ... As they continue to receive updates on the status of our residences and their communities.
>> any action requested from the court today.
>> there is an action requested today. We would just like to note that health and human services continues to support this effort. We have been able to provide staffing with our non-exempt personnel so far. But I should provide notice to the court that we are moving into what is the busy time for health and human services, that's the first couple of weeks of the month when our programs, the demand for our programs sort of ticks up. So we will be continuing to try to balance the service to evacuees as well as the service to our constituents.
>> do we need this back on next week?
>> I would suggest one more time, judge. And we certainly will notify you if we feel that we don't need this item.
>> I would like to thank you all, your staff for what you're doing. It means a lot to those persons that are here and been displaced. Thank you.
>> thank you very much.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 3:05 AM