City and FEMA still struggling to make ends meet

CEDAR RAPIDS - A frustrated City Hall says it and the Federal Emergency Management Agency continue to slog through the details of the city's flood recovery in an effort to reach agreement on how much in federal disaster relief the city deserves.

Joe O'Hern, the city's director of flood recovery and reinvestment, told the City Council's Flood Recovery Committee on Thursday that the slow resolution of a long list of issues with FEMA has become an “urgent issue” for the city, in part, because the city has fronted the payment of sizable bills and needs FEMA to reimburse the city for the costs.

The biggest single item on the reimbursement list for now is the cost to demolish of the city's flood-damaged former Sinclair packing plant, which FEMA defined as an imminent threat to public health and safety and agreed to pay to demolish in 2010.

The demolition cost approaches $20 million, though O'Hern said the city has received less than $5 million in reimbursements on the project to date.

Back-and-forths between the city and FEMA also are threatening construction timelines for city projects. He singled out the construction of the city's new library and the renovation of the Paramount Theatre, though after Thursday's meeting he said groundbreaking on the library was still anticipated in November and a bid-letting for the Paramount project this summer.

FEMA reviews on matters related to the city's new Central Fire Station and new Animal Control operation also are slowing those projects down, he said.

O'Hern reported to the council committee - comprised of Don Karr, chairman, Chuck Wieneke and Justin Shields - that FEMA has raised concerns about the city's preferred site for the fire station because the owner demolished buildings, including the former Emerald Knights building, on most of the site immediately before the city selected the site in the 700 block of Second Avenue SE for the fire station. FEMA has said the demolition has precluded the agency from conducting a required historic review of the buildings.

Problems with FEMA and the fire station site surfaced last week when the owner of the property erected for-sale signs on it, saying he was not sure the city would ever get around to buying it for the fire station.

City Manager Jeff Pomeranz told the council that FEMA, in effect, was “holding us accountable” for the actions of a private property owner over which the city had no control.

O'Hern said FEMA has agreed to ask Iowa's State Historic Preservation Office to review the proposed fire station site, despite the demolition, and make a recommendation.

O'Hern and Pomeranz and other city staff met this week with FEMA officials, including those from the agency's regional office, to discuss differences, a meeting which Pomeranz characterized in positive terms. He said FEMA has agreed to come back with some decisions within a “reasonable time” and to limit the number of reviews of projects already well reviewed.

“We believe they were hearing us,” Pomeranz said.

Council member Karr was unconvinced. He said he's heard similar responses from FEMA over the last year with little progress.

Council member Shields said he suspected that “vicious and mean-spirited chatter” based on “no facts” by some in the community has prompted FEMA to slow down its help to the city.

“I don't think people realize what damage they do shooting off their mouths,” Shields said.