Flood Recovery Report Finds Higher Costs, Potential Reimbursements for County Building

Flood recovery director Bill Cherry presented a January progress report to the County Board of Supervisors. Included in the report was the ongoing struggle to mitigate issues around the County office complex and the Harvey Stoddard County Jail.

Unfortunately, there are pieces of good and bad news to the mix. Cost for the County office flood mitigation project has increased to $7.6 million. The vast majority of this cost would be spent on the floodgates, which would cost $5.9 million. Nearly a million would be spent moving infrastructure out of the basement and $800,000 would go for reinforcement and flood resistant windows.

Much of the increase was caused by the "porous soil conditions surrounding the County Office Complex." While this may cause an initial challenge, the Flood Recovery Coordinator Cherry is working on research to increase the total reimbursement from FEMA to cover the potential cost.

Beyond this, a new security system has been installed at the County building complex, including the replacing of panic buttons, keypad access, and a camera. The system is fully reimbursable from FEMA and should not cost the County any money. Further security elements approved by the County in November are almost completed.