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Resolution 523-1998 Board of County Commissioners RESOLUTION NO. 523 -1998 A RESOLUTION REQUESTING THAT THE FEMA TEAM WORKING IN MONROE COUNTY AS THE RESULT OF HURRICANE GEORGES AND TROPICAL STORM MITCH BE REPLACED BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA: FEMA is hereby requested to remove its present team working in Monroe County as a result of Hurricane Georges and Tropical Storm Mitch and to replace the removed individuals with staff that are accustomed to working productively with local officials. The reasons for such a request are set forth in the letter dated December 7, 1998 from Monroe County Administrator James Roberts to FEMA Federal Coordinating Officer Paul Fay. That letter is attached to this Resolution as Exhibit A and incorporated herein. PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County, Florida, at a regular meeting of said Board held on the 9th day of December,:i998. \D o 0 \D ..,., absent ~p~ ~ ~ mx-< .... 0 yes ('"'). r- ..,., yes g~' (.e.) a z ::<;l =": :::0 yes -I~~ ~ :::0 yes :<;-i :r (.e.) F"T1 "'T1 > .. ("') r- C) , 0 :t> m . Co.) :::0 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISS~E~ OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA ,;~. .. By "Bo'~~~~"'~- B~ jresiiifemago O,v,~~Y ~o~~~E (305) 294-464' - (l BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MA YOR Wilhelmina Harvey, District I Mayor Pro tern Shirley Freeman, District 3 George Neugent, District 2 Nora Williams, District 4 Mary Kay Reich, District 5 Monroe County Board of County Commissioners Office of the County Administrator 5100 College Road, Rm 212 Key West, FL 33040 (305) 292-4441 - Phone (305) 292-4544 - Fax December 7, 1998 Mr. Paul Fay, Federal Coordinating Officer Federal Emergency Management Agency 2590 Executive Center Circle East, Suite 200, Second Floor Tallahassee, FL 32301 Re: FEMA-Created Monroe County Fiscal Crisis Dear Mr. Fay: My key hurricane recovery staff and consultant have briefed me on the impact of the FEMA Public Assistance (PA) Program decisions on Monroe County's Hurricane Georges recovery effort, All indications are that your staff has created a severe, and growing, fiscal crisis for Monroe County. This situation continues to deteriorate even though our mutual staffs met frequently and you, Shirley Collins of the Florida Division of Emergency Management and I have given cooperative instructions. Based on your staffs most recent approved debris removal project (DSR 00098): · FEMA is refusing to fund nearly $4 million (28%) of $14.2 million in invoiced hurricane debris removal costs that the County is contractually obligated to pay for contract work performed from October 4 to November 14. · With the experience above as precedent, for debris removal work performed after November 14, the County can anticipate millions of dollars in additional FEMA funding denials for disaster-related contract costs-exacerbating our crisis. · FEMA is poised to potentially deny all the costs for any debris collected after November 11 when the volume exceeds FEMA's highly questionable 46,000-CY estimate of remaining debris. · F or our total debris removal effort, FEMA' s denials may total $7 million to $10 million in disaster costs the County is obligated to pay its contractors. EXHIBIT A Mr. Paul Fay-FEMA December 7, 1998 Page -2- This is completely unacceptable based upon FEMA representation of cooperating with the County, its past history in other jurisdictions, and its own policies and regulations. Recall that the reason President Clinton declared Hurricane Georges a major disaster was that the County and state were incapable of recovering without federal [mancial assistance. We need and expect FEMA to work with us to get back on our feet economically, not to find ways to leave the County holding the bag. We are willing, with significant effort, to pay our share (12.5%); we need FEMA to live up to its statutory mandate. At this point I have no choice but to bring this crisis to the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners for action at their next meeting. I will call you to discuss this problem. Sincerely, -)lunua 12 olxd/;;;J~ -' James Roberts County Administrator cc: Mr. John Copenhaver, Regional Director, FEMA Monroe County Board of Commissioners James Hendrick, County Attorney Monroe County Division Directors Billy Wagner, Jr., Emergency Management James Malloch, Project Manager Danny Kolhage, Clerk of the Court John Carter, OMB Director Jim Stone, KPMG Monroe County FEMA Issues · FEMA PA staff unilaterally slashed FEMA reimbursement to the County for the County's actual costs for debris removal. FEMA is refusing to approve roughly $3.9 million. · FEMA P A staff attempted to exclude Monroe County from a FEMA-called meeting with Florida Division of Environmental Protection (DEP) to discuss whether Monroe County could burn vegetative hurricane debris, · FEMA P A staff placed the County in financial jeopardy by refusing to prepare an estimate- based project by October 16 as they originally promised. · FEMA P A staff-by threatening to withhold cost reimbursement-forced the County to close its most productive debris staging area, burn all vegetative debris and stop the grinding and hauling out of any vegetative debris. · The FEMA-required burning of all vegetative debris is expected to add three months to the debris removal process. · FEMA did not conduct any cost analysis to determine whether FEMA' s burning requirement will ultimately cost less than the grinding and hauling process the County originally negotiated with its Contractor. · FEMA P A staff forced the County's contractor to measure trucks three times rather than one time by refusing requests to assist with measuring the first two times and then challenging the fir~t two measurements days later. · FEMA' s inconsistent truck measurement techniques netted different results 100% of the time when the same trucks were measured by two different FEMA staff. · FEMA field staff routinely went behind the County's back to direct the work of, and discuss contract terms with, County debris removal contractors and subcontractors. This continued even after they were repeatedly instructed not to do so by the County and FEMA leadership. · As of December 2, 1998, FEMA has only prepared three projects for funding and all of those were for debris removal and will require appeals. · FEMA field inspectors repeatedly refused county requests to provide proactive technical assistance and project monitoring. · FEMA Public Assistance (P A) staff jeopardized the County's insurance recovery by instructing County personnel to begin reconstruction before the insurance adjusters had inspected the sites. · FEMA's P A staff gave such nebulous instructions initially that County staff had to redo work to prepare information for FEMA projects.