ROBERTSDALE — More than a year after Hurricane Sally ripped through Baldwin County causing widespread damage, officials with the City of Robertsdale say they are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel in getting reimbursement by FEMA and the state of Alabama.
The Robertsdale City Council received an update on FEMA reimbursement from city employee Rustee Karolyi during its regular meeting Monday, Oct. 4.
While the city has received just $271,745 in FEMA reimbursement so far, Mayor Charles Murphy said the city is nearing completion for reimbursement on its two biggest expenses.
The city’s largest expense was debris removal, Murphy said, with total costs of $3.3 million with a 75 % reimbursement from FEMA expected to be around $2.5 million.
“We have received word that that reimbursement has been approved and we should be getting that within the next two weeks,” Murphy said.
The city’s other big expense, electrical costs which totaled around $1.9 million, is in the approval process, Murphy said, with an expectation of receiving reimbursement of around $850,000 over the next month.
Once FEMA reimbursement has been approved, the city expects to get a reimbursement from the state of about $600,000, Murphy said, or 12.5 % of the total cost.
The city also expects to receive a 5 % reimbursement of administrative costs from FEMA and reimbursement of costs for city labor and equipment rental, leaving the city’s total expense from last year’s storm at around $360,000, Murphy said.
“Overall I think everything has gone really well, and we appreciate all the hard work of our city employees in getting this done,” Murphy said. “When all is said and done, we anticipate having everything cleared out before Thanksgiving.”
In other business Oct. 5, the council approved the purchase of the Baldwin County Coliseum from the Baldwin County Commission for a total of $2.2 million.
“This is something that we have been working toward for the last six years,” Murphy said. “We want to thank Commissioner (Billie Jo) Underwood for working with us to get this done and appreciate Commission Chairman Joe Davis and commissioners (Jeb) Ball and (Skip) Gruber for their cooperation.”
Murphy said nothing will change as far as the day-to-day operation of the coliseum and fairgrounds.
In emergency situations, the operation of the coliseum would continue to be turned over to the Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency for operations and the annual Baldwin County Fair would continue to operate under the management of Sonny and Melinda Hankins and the Baldwin County Cattle and Fair Association.
“The Cattle and Fair Association still has one year left on its lease and they will continue to run the fair as long as they wish to,” Murphy said. “We appreciate Mr. Hankins’ for his support through this process and we plan to continue working with him to make the fair bigger and better than ever.”
The council also voted to authorize advertisement for bids for pipe material for a water system expansion project.
The estimated $1.5 million cash project would be paid out over the next 12 months, Murphy said, and would include running water lines to areas east of Robertsdale around the Baldwin Beach Express and providing expansion of the city’s water system along Alabama 59.
“Our water system is currently in great shape with five wells and a holding capacity of about 1.7 million gallons,” Murphy said. “We don’t anticipate having to add any tanks in the immediate future and will probably be looking to add a tank on the east side of the city in about eight years.”
Also on Oct. 4, officials with the Central Baldwin Softball League asked for a clarification of policies at the city’s municipal park and received permission to place a drink machine at the softball complex.
Murphy said drink machines were removed at the park because of vandalism.
“If they want one out there, we can try it and see how it goes,” he said.
The council also approved the reappointment of Teddy Mitchell to the Library Board.
