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Commission Waiting On FEMA
By SHERRY DIGMON
News Staff Writer
Seems lots of folks have ideas about what the Escambia County Commission should do to fix the damaged bridges around the county. Several bridges, including three in the Canoe area, were washed away in floods in mid-December.
FEMA representative Tony Williams addressed the commission at Monday’s meeting to give them a single word of instruction – wait.
Some residents have suggested that the commission borrow the money to fix the bridges, then get the money back from FEMA. But, according to Williams, it doesn’t work that way.
Commissioner Brandon Smith said the message was clear. If the commission borrows the money, the commission will be left with the debt with no help from FEMA.
“FEMA’s attitude is that if you have the means to go to the bank and borrow the money, you don’t need them,” Smith said. “If we borrow the money, FEMA won’t pay it back and it will be up to the taxpayers to repay it.”
Although the commission is aware of the inconvenience the detours are causing area residents, their hands are tied.
“We wait for FEMA to say go,” Smith said. “We wait for them to complete their studies.”
And those studies can be time-consuming and costly.
According to Smith, the bridge on Cow Pen Creek Road is in a wetland area. Although a bridge had existed there, FEMA is starting over with the studies since wetlands are involved.
“Before you can put a piling in the water, you have to make sure you’re not messing with the ecosystem,” Smith said.
The cost to repair and replace damaged roads and bridges around the county is $5 million to $6 million. The North Canoe Road project alone will cost about $400,000. Even with help from FEMA and the state, the commission will still be responsible for matching funds.
FEMA will pay 75 percent. The state will pay 10 percent. The county will pay a 15 percent match. Even at that, Smith said, the cost to the county will be about $600,000 to $700,000.
But it is, as Smith said, “a far site better than $5 million to $6 million.”
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