Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 1
1.
consider and take appropriate action to ratify request for disaster declaration for Travis County.
>> mr. Baldwin.
>> good morning, pete baldwin with the Travis County emergency coordinator.
we declared disaster declaration due to extreme wild fires laicity afternoon with a letter to the state requesting assistance, that along with the fema damage assessment teams they have collected have been sent to fema for consideration to be included in the presidential.
the law state that is the judge may sign disaster declaration any time but it must be ratified within 7 days by the governing body which is the Commissioners court to be extended and that's what this item is about today.
we would recommend that this disaster declaration be be extended until we find out the fate that reare getting out of this particular season.
>> I move approve.
>> second.
>> what would it mean to the average resident who may have been affected by the fire?
>> what this means is we have asked a presidential disaster declaration assistance, which, if granted, would move the categories to a presidential.
individual assistance and public assistance.
under individual assistance, most of those are in the forms of low interest loans.
they are registered with fema and then they are low interest loans and in some instance, there is some grant funding available.
in the public assistance, there is reimbursement with different categories, but one is emergency response.
another is debris removal.
as of this morning, we still have not heard back whether or not Travis County has been approved in the presidential disaster declaration.
bastrop county has been declared as presidential.
the good news for Travis County residents on that is that because we are a contiguous county to a presidentially declared disaster, all of our residents would be eligible for small business administration loans, simply by being a contiguous county, so we know that there will be some assistance in available low interest loans for individuals.
until we hear back on the presidential, we -- there may be some other avenues if we get declared in the presidential.
now, on the public assistance side, most the Pflugerville fire, the spicewood fire, and the steiner fire, have all been declared eligible for the fire mitigation assistance grant.
the fmag as you hear them called.
basically what that does, it allows first responders, anyone who responded to the fire, to submit expenses and be reimbursed 75% on -- 75-cents on the dollar.
so worse case scenario, we have our three largest fires declared for federal mitigation -- or fire mitigation assistance grants.
we also know that since bastrop has been declared individuals can be eligible for small business administration loans, and then until we hear definitive answer back from fema of whether or not Travis County will be included in that presidential, then we know what we have right now.
so either way we go, we know our response activities, of both fire, police, ems. T and r was on a number of fires assisting.
those kinds of expenses will be available for 75/25% split.
>> any other questions or comments?
>> yes.
I have a couple related to the public assistance, because first of all, what kind of turn around might we expect on the 75-cents on the dollar reimbursement?
because we are looking at a fire season.
we are looking at emergency service districts that have had significant impacts and damage to their equipment.
we need readiness and we need to have the dollars to be able to move forward during the rest of this season.
>> to answer the question as truthfully as I can, we don't have -- we don't know.
because most of the time, after you would declare, we have what is called an applicant briefing, where everyone comes in.
we hear what expenses are eligible.
those are submitted and then it's a matter of -- they usually give you at least 60 days to submit those and then after that, to give you an example, the grand masa fire and the pinnacle fire that we have had, we have not received reimbursement for that.
it is a slow process.
>> I encourage the services to do the accounting -- I am sure you are -- of what our short-term deficit may be, because we still do have a significant fire season that we are going to need to get through.
>> I am sure that Sunday when we activate it, we make sure to instruct all agencies to keep records of both personnel, equipment, supplies, anything that was used in support of that fire scene, and then once we have our applicant briefing with the state and the federal government, we will learn a little bit more on what are eligible expenses but we have seen on the previous fire mitigation assistance grants, it's pretty broad list.
it is not very fast in being returned.
>> mr. Baldwin, there was some discussion at campo last night with regard to the region and we know that certainly in our country, and most certainly in bastrop, we have seen some roads chewed up pretty badly as well, and so we are looking at moving -- moving regional money around to the areas of need.
is there any -- I suppose what I would is is that our staff working on these grants also touch base with campo with regard to how this federal money can be used and in what combinations, so that we can maximize or bounce back.
>> one of the categories under public assistance in a presidential has to to deal specifically with infrastructure and if there were roads damaged, we will encourage t and r to account for those damages.
now, if it's on like a 71, where the fire jumped out on the speed wood fire, that's a state highway.
the state would then account for those expenses.
but we will encourage everyone -- anything that was damaged or any response efforts should be documented.
and when we say "documented," it's not, well, I think so-and-so was on the fire.
we need time sheets -- fire service and ems service, things like that, it's easy because you have a computer aide dispatch record of who was dispatched to what and when.
>> I am happy to hear the emergency services have already coordinated.
>> t and r spent a lot of time with us at the emergency operations center.
>> yes, if not for the roads for the park system.
>> in the minds of a lot of the residents to have in Travis County that have encountered, some hardship, grief, some devastation from the fire, I guess, though, not knowing exactly what they are thinking or having in their minds, it's for the kind of person that they they were probably supposed to ask us.
I want to ask this question to you and maybe you can -- those particular residents who are listening to us this morning.
is there a -- a clearinghouse number available for persons that have been impacted by the fire would be able to get straightforward answers?
is there such a number, a clearinghouse number, where outfits could be acquired to many, many questions that I am quite sure the residents of Travis County have had that have been impacted by the fires?
>> no, sir, we have not set up a centralized number for that, because until we get word on where we are going to fall out under one of these declarations, there is really not -- if we go presidential, there will be a 1-800 number for the fema registration that will answer the questions, but it will at least be a 1-800 number for them but once we find out whether we will be going under presidential or under the contiguous county rule, we have not set up anything like that.
>> all right.
and let me ask you this question.
what is the status, quote number, as far as a number that can determine which status that we are in until a decision has been made?
is there a particular number that the residents may acquire?
>> I that are welcome to call the office of emergency management.
as soon as we find out we will make a public media -- or media blitz to let everyone know and then see what we can do to establish something.
>> give that number, please.
>> it will be 974-0450 -- 60 -- sorry, 0460.
>> okay.
thank you.
>> just along those same lines because we don't have the same number -- a single number for all of these resources, I would like to point out the website -- the Travis County website and the office of emergency management has a lot of useful information on that to help triage people to the right locations.
also, all of the media websites, the television, radio, and newspapers are listing -- there is a huge response from the private sector and independent nonprofit organizations for relief.
there is pretty good comprehensive lists on those websites as well.
>> absolutely.
a lot of the private sector have really stepped up as far as donations.
I think the chief can tell you that they are well stocked with gatorade and water and other things and that we did not ever put out a notice for donations, and one of the reasons why is sometimes donations can become almost a big of a disaster as the disaster you are dealing with, but people responded, other organizations responded and it appears they have met a bunch of those needs but any kind of information we get, we will get posted on the website as soon as possible.
>> okay.
again, thank y'all.
>> all those in favor?
this passes by unanimous vote.
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