CITY STAFF FRUSTRATED BY DEALING WITH FEMA

  

City Engineer Lori Lakatos shared her frustration of dealing with FEMA with the Brenham City Council today (Thursday).  After the May 2016 flooding, the city eligible to receive FEMA funding for storm damages.  Lakatos reviewed with council the many projects that are underway with repairs and their status for receiving FEMA funding.  Some projects have been approved by FEMA for only a fraction on the actual repair costs. One example is Jackson Street Park which had an estimate of $155,000 in damages but only was approved for $3,700.  Other sites like the Burleson Street crossing of Higgins Branch were denied by FEMA for what they called “lack of maintenance”.  Other projects, like the water intake at Lake Somerville that was damaged, are still waiting on a FEMA decision.  FEMA is questioning whether they can pay for repairs for damage on Federal land.

Lakatos said part of the problem is the constant turnover in personnel at FEMA.  She added that now the funds are channeled through the Texas Division of Emergency Management, adding another layer of bureaucracy and different personnel.   Lakatos and City Manager James Fisher suggested the council look at hiring a consultant to handle all of the FEMA funding requests and subsequent appeals.  Fisher said the firms usually contract for a percentage of the estimated repair cost.  He said he would gather more information and bring it to council in March.