During a meeting Wednesday night, the Montpelier City Council was told 44 different pieces of municipal infrastructure were listed on the damage inventory the city sent to the Federal Emergency Management Agency following last year’s July 11 flood.
Assistant City Manager Kelly Murphy said approximately $11 million would be necessary to complete all 44 of these projects. However, the city has only asked FEMA to fund 15 of the projects through its Public Assistance program.
Murphy also noted that most of the money Montpelier is likely to receive from FEMA through this program for public infrastructure hasn’t arrived yet.
“We have received $135,000 or so, so far,” she said. “Of those 15 projects, they total about $910,000.”
Thad Leugemors, part of the State of Vermont Flood Recovery Team, told the council that whatever remaining funds Montpelier will get from FEMA will likely arrive by late next spring.
“You guys are in a good place and you’re part of the complex project group that we have in FEMA,” Leugmors said. “We’re thinking they’re all going to work themselves through this process in the late summer and early fall.”
However, Lisa Edson Neveu’s home on State Street flooded 13 months ago. Her flood insurance didn’t even come close to covering all of the damage. She was exasperated that FEMA hasn’t offered her a financial lifeline.
“We’re hearing from contractors,” Edson Neveu said to Leugmors during Wednesday’s meeting. “They’re scheduling two years out, and we’re still not scheduling, and we live in a house with no walls and no kitchen and no bathroom. And yet, you stand here and say we’re in a great position and we’re supporting the uninsured — what is going on here?”
Edson Neveu may have answered her own question moments later. She speculated that Montpelier homeowners whose insurance didn’t completely cover their damage might be getting left out because there simply aren’t very many of them.
“What you’re talking about is sort of outside of my scope,” Leugmors replied. “I’m not here to discuss that and I don’t speak for Vermont Emergency Management on that point.”
“Yeah, it’s outside of everyone’s scope,” Edson Neveu said. “Everyone tells me how it’s not their fault and that somebody else is responsible.”
Murphy told the councilors that FEMA will likely end up covering 90% of the cost of the 15 projects Montpelier asked for help with. No official notice of this has arrived from the agency, however.
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