Council in for long fight with FEMA over $36 million

The City Council on Friday said it would fight the Federal Emergency Management all the way to court if need be to secure up to $36.4 million in funds the council says it deserves for flood damage to the three city-owned facilities.

None of the three facilities - the former Sinclair meatpacking plant, the former Quality Chef plant and the hydroelectric plant at the 5-in-1 dam - can be or will be rebuilt, and FEMA provides funds to cities in such cases for use on alternative or improved projects.

However, FEMA's regional office in Kansas City determined in July that no FEMA funds would be coming to the city for the three facilities.

At a noontime council meeting on Friday, Greg Eyerly, the city's flood-recovery director, emphasized that FEMA's own top staff people in Iowa came to a council meeting on April 19 to tell the council it likely would qualify for nearly $21 million for the Sinclair plant, $13 million for the hydroelectric plant and about $3 million for the Quality Chef plant.

“We never set the expectation,” Eyerly said. “It was brought to us by FEMA.”

In the weeks after the April meeting, the council spent some time prioritizing how it would steer the $36.4 million to a variety of projects in need of cash, including a downtown parking ramp, a northwest Cedar Rapids fire station, a riverfront amphitheater, a city farmers market, trails and the proposed medical district.

At meeting on July 2, FEMA told the city it would not get any FEMA funds for Sinclair, Quality Chef or the hydroelectric plant.

The city has 60 days to appeal that decision, and it will file appeals to FEMA for the Sinclair and Quality Chef properties by Aug. 27. The city already has filed an appeal for the hydroelectric plant.

Council member Don Karr said the current appeals gave him the feeling that the city has a long, drawn-out battle on its hands with FEMA.

“Let's dig in and go after this process,” Karr said.