Columbus city councilmen voted unanimously to begin the process of issuing a $5 million general obligation bond to fund recovery from a Feb. 23 tornado and subsequent flooding that did $9.3 million worth of damage to city property.
City attorney Jeff Turnage told councilmen during a special-call meeting Friday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would not reimburse the city for repairs, debris monitoring or debris removal until it received copies of checks paid to contractors. In order to issue those checks and begin the reimbursement process, which can take up to six months, councilmen voted to publish a request for proposals for the bond.
The bond will be issued for a maximum total of $5 million, and the city can withdraw what it needs in $100,000 increments, said Stephen Edds, a lawyer with Jackson-based law firm Butler Snow, which is consulting with the city on RFPs along with Jackson-based financial consulting firm Government Consultants Inc. The bond can be repaid in up to seven years, although Mayor Robert Smith told councilmen FEMA reimbursement money would be used to pay back as much of the bond as possible.
“This isn’t something where we’re using the funds to complete the amphitheater or build anything or do any other projects,” Smith told The Dispatch. “This is just for the storm cleanup. … If it didn’t happen during or because of the flooding or tornado, the money (from the bond) will not be used.”
Funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse the city up to 75 percent of the $9.3 million in damages to Sim Scott Park, the Riverwalk and amphitheater, and city streets. Columbus is also eligible to receive funds to pay Looks Great Services and Debris Tech, the two companies hired by the city to begin debris monitoring and cleanup. Another 12.5 percent of those funds will come from the state, and the city will be on the hook for the remainder.
The RFPs will be reviewed at the regular city council meeting on June 18, Turnage said.
Cleanup, rebuilding continues
After adopting a resolution to allow city workers to go onto private property to remove storm debris at the owner’s request during a special-call meeting in April, Smith said the city’s public works department received more than 60 calls from residents with large trees, tree stumps and difficult-to-move piles of debris on their property. Debris Tech and Looks Great both responded to those calls and are counting that debris in the total tonnage they submit to FEMA as part of the reimbursement request, city project manager Jabari Edwards previously told The Dispatch.
“They’ve been working on that for the past week and a half,” Smith said. “Responding to those calls and requests. When they remove those big stumps or leave behind big holes in someone’s backyard from debris, they fill it in with dirt so it doesn’t attract mosquitoes. It’s important that debris removal continues now that we’re getting into summer.”
The city is currently accepting bids from architectural firms for plans to rebuild the Sim Scott Park Community Center, which was destroyed in the Feb. 23 tornado. Smith said councilmen will evaluate those bids “in the next two weeks.”
Also in the next two weeks, the city will begin sending out letters to property owners in the areas of north Columbus most impacted by the tornado and flooding requesting that the person responsible for the property inform the city of their plans for those lots. Smith said the city and MEMA are continuing to advocate for federal assistance for private property owners who suffered damage from the tornado and the accompanying flooding, and knows that a lack of that assistance may factor into why so many damaged properties still look “the same as they were the day after the storm.”
MEMA’s initial request to FEMA for individual assistance was denied in April, but MEMA officials said they plan to appeal the decision.
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