Travis County Commissioners Court
March 24, 2009,
Item 3
>> pleased to receive status report regarding the governor's request for a presidential disaster declaration due to drought conditions, and we did get a copy of that letter last week, and the follow-up letter yesterday.
not to steal your thunder.
>> I think it would be good, probably, judge, to make it a little bit clearer for the public as well as for the court in regards to the various declaration that are out there, and I think the one you're referring to is the drought declaration.
there's also one that's been sent to you in regards to the wildfire declaration.
that is the one that has been denied in which governor perry now has made an appeal through a letter, but in regards to the drought declaration, we're still awaiting word on that one.
and so that one hasn't been denied.
that is -- has been -- it's still pending.
so I want to be clear about you know, which ones are which and the status of each.
in regards to bastrop, that's another disaster assistant program that pete baldwin mentioned last week, and I think that's an important one because it affects Travis County as well, if you've had any damage, and that is -- the result of that is you are able to apply for a small loan.
i think pete referred, due to Commissioner Davis's questions, referred the public to our web site, and if you look at it this morning you'll see that there's some more information in regards to that, but if you go to disaster relief you'll see that once you go to the web site, you have to punch that and then you get it opened up to where you actually get the names, addresses, information that's needed if you wish to contact them regarding those loans.
so, judge, I think there was a little bit of misunderstanding as to who had denied what, and the denial had to do with the wildfire declaration.
>> okay.
well, it's posted -- what's posted today regards drought conditions.
>> yes, sir.
>> so that's still pending.
>> that is still pending.
and the latest word that we have on that is that it was sent up two weeks ago and we're constituent waiting word back on it.
>> and that request is for the entire state, really.
>> that was sent to president obama by the governor.
>> covers all the state.
>> yes.
>> I'm sorry, all the counties.
>> all the counties.
>> including travis.
>> yes.
>> any questions?
anything else regarding no.
3?
>> I have a quick question.
>> okay.
>> should the -- should we actually get the drought declaration, the federal drought declaration, what does that entitle us to?
>> it's actually going to be -- according to pete, who is basically staying in touch with this, is that it's also going to be in the form of loans that allows people to come in and receive assistance through low-interest loans.
>> it's something similar, I guess, to -- well, I know they set aside -- excuse me, were you finished, Commissioner?
>> go ahead.
>> the farm bill of fy '08 I guess had money, had funding set aside to address a lot of needs of the farming and ranching community.
i believe, though, that you would have to basically apply for those dollars that have been set aside.
but what I'm trying to get to, and after significant correspondence to the elected officials that represent Travis County, the three congressional representatives, lamar smith, doggett and of course mccall, along with the two state senators, cornyn and kay bailey hutchison, rodriguez, donna dukes, representative -- state representatives, also senator watson, letting them know that we experienced a drought.
i know they are probably aware of it, but I don't think it would hurt to send that kind of information out to see if we can draw down federal dollars.
i think the more folks that are in this concerning the drought here in this particular area I think it dense us more, especially when the elected officials get -- join forces and combine an effort to get those -- that federal dollars down to relieve us.
so I don't know if that portion of money that may come because of the state being in a drought as it is and suffering the impacts from the drought.
i'm just kind of curious to make sure all the players are in place, even the Texas agrilife cooperative extension service.
so those kind of things.
skip has been -- I've been working with him, ricter, and so it's just a cooperative effort to make sure we get some money to take care of these folks -- the problems and issues that they are having to deal with in Travis County, and particularly in our particular interests.
so I'm just wondering how is that being displayed -- portrayed across the board.
>> well, you know what's interesting, I think that's one reason why, Commissioner, it's due to efforts like you're just describing of people getting involved and communicating and coordinating and trying to bring all the appropriate resources together to make the appeals to the governor, to the president.
but I think based upon all the information that I'm reading and seeing and communicating with is that that's why you have all these declarations, is that people are suffering, people are seeing the devastation that's occurring.
if you look at the wildfire situation, that's why you're getting ready to see the fire marshal lee talk about our particular area, and even though we have received some rain, that now we're in the conditions again, because we're in a drought condition.
a drought condition is not something that occurs over a few days.
and so everybody from the first responders to the firefighters to the appropriate agencies to the public officials, I've never seen such a combination of people put more effort toward that relief, and that's assistance and that's help to our residents.
we're also seeing right near us, the bastrop fire.
i went out and toured that about two weeks ago, and the devastation that I was able to witness of where one home is completely intact and right next to it it's in ashes, and the devastation that can occur within a couple-hour period is just unbelievable, that homes can be destroyed.
thank goodness that there were no lives lost, either on the public safety side or residents.
but that's an awareness that brought everybody even more so into the fact that we have got to take every appropriate step to make sure that we protect ourselves and that we -- and that we help those that have been devastated by this.
there are so many accounts -- when you go talk to people, there's so many accounts of people who have lost cattle, who have lost their crops.
and so -- you know, but it's not a situation where we're just in hibernation here.
again, through all the efforts of all the people, I think that's why you're seeing all these declarations and assistance and appeals, but it doesn't need to stop.
it needs to stay aggressive as we're doing it, and hopefully we'll be able to see some results from that.
>> anything else regarding no.
3?
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 2:12 PM