Marshall County officials are frustrated with the FEMA reimbursement process for local funds expended during the February flooding.
During Monday’s County Commissioner meeting, Commissioner Kevin Overmyer said the Highway Department, Surveyor and EMA department heads have spent countless hours working to meet the requirements of FEMA by preparing documents and providing information on the flood event.
The flood event in northern Indiana was widespread enough to quality Marshall County and several other counties with a disaster declaration. That designation allows private individuals, businesses and governments to seek federal reimbursement for some of the money expended to clean up from the disaster.
Seven months after the event and the Marshall County is still being requested to provide documentation. Many times the paperwork sought had already been provided to a previous person, but other times they want new information like GPS coordinates or information on the amount of rock and size of rock that was placed at a flood situation.
County EMA Director, Clyde Avery said FEMA has a contractor from Texas “who is a stickler for details.”
Avery told the commissioners that he contacted the Department of Homeland Security and suggested they put some guidelines in place so entities would know what sort of documentation would be required if a disaster is declared prior to a situation.
Avery told the commissioners, “It’s almost as if they’re throwing up road blocks to try and get you to the point where you just get frustrated and give up.” He warned, “It’s going to be a situation where we’re going to have to take care of ourselves,” thinking that FEMA will only deal with catastrophic situations and not disasters in the future.
