Leaders discuss budget and hurricane recovery
By Steve Herring
Published in News on November 10, 2016 9:57 AM
The General Assembly could possibly be called into special session by Dec. 1 to come up with a "fix" to get the state to where "it needs to get" in terms of disaster recovery relief, state Rep. John Bell said.
Bell and state budget director Andrew Heath met Monday morning with Wayne County and city elected officials and others at the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce to talk about both short- and long-term disaster recovery efforts.
Goldsboro was the second in a series of meetings - the first stop was in Kinston last week - to focus on those efforts and the state's solid financial status to help pay for them, Heath said.
The meetings also will be used to gather input and ideas from local leaders to take back to Raleigh, Heath said.
There were several suggestions Monday -- the need to ensure ditches and streams are cleared of growth that could impede and exacerbate flooding, a better way to transition from shelters to temporary housing and better ways of communication following such a disaster.
Bell said he and other legislators have been talking with the governor about what will be addressed if a special session is called.
"So we are still getting costs. We are still looking at long-term effects," Bell said. "We are still looking at what income from business and industry was lost. So it is a long process to do that. But we are already working on that.
"We took the structure on what was done in 1999 with Hurricane Floyd. That was our base, and we are working from there looking at what was done right, what was done wrong."
The advantage this time around is a $1.6 billion rainy day fund, Heath said.
As of Oct. 31, costs incurred because of Hurricane Matthew total $60.9 million of which $11.3 million is state money, he said.
The state is committed to a "swift" and "substantial" recovery.
"I have talked with a number of you in here, what we can do from the state side to help?" Bell said. "One of the things that I am consistently hearing throughout the district is debris pickup. I know it is a concern of the city and also a concern of the county."
Bell said debris pickup is a detail that becomes a major issue in fiscal planning for local governments.
"So we are trying to get some assistance there not only for our individual business owners, but also for the county and the city as far as debris pickup," he said.
The state also is looking at how to address school days missed because of the storm and subsequent flooding, Bell said.
Bell said in the House, "we are fully committed to go in and try to waive 10 days."
Adding 5 or 10 minutes to a school day does not really accomplish anything, Bell said.
"We don't want to put your staff and students in a situation where they have to come in on a Saturdays and holidays," he said. "That doesn't do anybody any good."
Another area is properly funding the Department of Transportation to ensure emergency patch work is done, but followed up with long-term fixes, he said.
"This is something that I need your input on," Bell said. "While we are going through this there are some opportunities here to do some long-term fixes -- whether it's stream cleanup, creek cleanup, river cleanup, ditch cleanup those kinds of things.
"How can we put some long-term fixes in place instead of just doing some patchwork that if we deal with other storms two or three months down the road will be washed out, and we will be right back in the same situation."
Equipment is another concern, including the need for communication centers, he said.
Bell said he has spoken with Sheriff Larry Pierce about a command post.
"This will be the third incident now, I believe, where we had to borrow from outside resources," he said. "So we want to be sure we can get our law enforcement personnel everything that they need to respond. Not only for a situation like this, but any situation that is possible. That is one of the commitments that we are going to look at."
The biggest commitment state leaders have agreed on is accountability, Bell said.
"Every dollar spent for disaster recovery, we want to make sure it goes to disaster recovery, not to frivolous projects or things (that) do not need to be funded that way," he said.
Goldsboro Mayor Chuck Allen said one area he saw as a possible weakness was local shelters.
"We need to figure out a better way to have shelters, be sure they have power and that kind of things because shelters without power are not good," he said.
Wayne County Commissioner Ray Mayo suggested that the county consider using the county's solar-powered middle schools in the Grantham and Spring Creek communities.
The EMS unit and fire department in Seven Springs are displaced when the town floods, Bell said.
"So do we do matching funds or do some grants in that type of situation where we can actually move those assets up the hill so they can respond," Bell said. "That is part of that. Also, working with the school system to target potential countywide shelters and doing some matching grants or types of grants to put in those heavy-duty generators and that can be an automatic response."
That was an issue in Wayne and other counties, he said.
"I think for us, and I think you are going to find it in most places that housing may be available, but then you have got to find locations within the county to put those houses," said Mel Powers, Wayne County Office of Emergency Services director. "You have to meet those requirements in order to place those houses on that land and that becomes an issue and a situation all in itself.
"We did get transitional shelter assistance approved, but of course, it is only good, I think it goes out on the 14th. Our temporary housing was approved Friday, so we did get that as well. We are working with the Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state trying to find locations."
The Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA officials were in the county last Friday scouting locations that require lighting, water, sewer and security, Powers said.
However, it could take up to six months to set up making the issue what to do with those displaced persons during that time, Allen said.