Flood damage reimbursements start to flow

FEMA and ER reimbursements have started coming in from the flood damage this spring.

Union County Engineer Zach Gunsolley said the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Emergency Repair from the federal highway department have each made a payment towards the reimbursements expected.

FEMA will help with claims for roads that were not built with federal money, while ER projects include federal highways and other federal aid eligible roads, Gunsolley said.

The $26,644 FEMA check is a 75% reimbursement for three culvert sites. The remaining 10% of the expected reimbursement will come from the state after an audit of the project is completed. Gunsolley said he doesn’t expect to receive those moneys for months.

“The state holds on to their 10% until we prove to the state that we dotted each “i” and crossed each “t” on the audit on the back end,” he said.

The treasurer’s office contacted Gunsolley to let him know they received a direct deposit from the ER project on Warbler Avenue. He expects that amount to be $9,909, 100% of the cost for that project.

Replacement trucks

The supervisors once again requested Gunsolley wait on purchasing new trucks for himself and road superintendent Al Hysell. The board had previously asked him to wait until January and until FEMA reimbursements started coming in.

The trucks were slated to be handed down the line in the secondary roads department to replace older vehicles. The last two vehicles in the rotation would then be disposed of at auction. Gunsolley said those two trucks are used for trips to Des Moines for parts among other uses. He has previously stated the trucks are unreliable and occasionally the department has had to pull other trucks from their fleet to use for this purpose, costing time and additional expense due to higher fuel consumption.

Supervisor Rick Friday expressed his concern that the cost of the new trucks would end up in a possible budget amendment at the end of the year.

“As we get closer to the end of the year, are you going to be coming to this board and wanting to amend this budget and the cost of those trucks be part of that amendment,” Friday said.

“The cost of the trucks is in the new equipment budget that sits at a positive balance by a substantial amount.” Gunsolley responded. “The budget amendment, I’ll be coming to you regardless because I’m going to be taking these reimbursement checks from FEMA and incorporating them back into this budget ... so that would help right the expenditure.”

“Looking at the bottom line on the budget, if you didn’t have to spend money on a truck, would it be necessary ... to amend the budget?” Friday asked. “Would it ease that amendment?”

“I think we’re sitting pretty good on the budget,” Gunsolley said.

A change in policy earlier this year will likely necessitate a budget amendment to pay out comp time hours to the employees after the board placed a cap on the hours that can be accumulated.

Friday also questioned why Gunsolley was not considering three-quarter ton trucks instead of half-ton.

“The three-quarter ton we want to replace in a following budget year for the foreman pickups because the foreman pickups have the fuel tanks on the back,” Gunsolley said. “With the half-tons, it’s Al (Hysell) and I ... we don’t (carry) a lot of weight. We can’t justify that ... We can switch our whole department to three-quarter tons, where ever they get moved around to. Some trucks just won’t ever be used for that, the way that they get handed down.”

Flat bed

The supervisors accepted a bid of $5,027.67 from Big Boys Toys for a flat bed on the GMC 7500 over the $5,900 quote from Quality Glass.

The GMC came with a box-style bed that was not suitable for use for spraying equipment, which was the purpose of buying the truck. The current bed will be sold at auction.

The main difference in the two quotes was the thickness of the plate. After a conversation with road superintendent Al Hysell, the board determined that the 12 gauge plate was sufficient for the needs of the vehicle. Union County Engineer Zach Gunsolley said Quality Glass has replaced truck beds for years, but Big Boys Toys said they have only done four or five of them.

Laptop

Gunsolley requested to purchase a new laptop for Hysell. His current tablet no longer supports some of the software he needs to see work orders in the field after a recent software update caused it to be incompatible.

Hysell would prefer to replace the tablet with a laptop because he works out of his truck much of the time and a device with a keyboard would be more versatile

“If he’s writing notes ... he’s trying to enter that in a work order in the field. With a tablet, you have to have the keyboard come up and it takes all of his real estate on the screen,” Gunsolley said.