Wes Wolfe
Disaster recovery is a process, so Nassau County Commissioners gathered to see what went right, what could be improved upon, and what’s next as the county dries out from the bullet dodged with Hurricane Ian.
“My God, look around the state,” County Commissioner Aaron Bell said. “There for the grace of God was us.”
The county remains in the recovery phase, County Manager Taco Pope said. Commissioners voted unanimously to extend the Nassau County local state of emergency for another week to continue ongoing work.
Some tasks include inspecting roadside ditches, drainage facilities, bridges and places like that, and managing different areas with different debris problems.
Close-out, the next phase, involves “administrative functions that we have to do for going after (Federal Emergency Management Agency) reimbursement,” Pope said. “(Assistant County Manager) Marshall (Eyerman) and his team are working close with (Nassau County) Emergency Management to get the paperwork done on all that.”
Pope expects to bring the issue back before Commissioners at their Oct. 10 meeting for another state of emergency extension. Part of keeping emergency operations going is so the county maintains its eligibility for money intended to support that work.
“In the (emergency operations center) this morning, we had, of course, some electrical spikes, so the county’s already out” working on restoration, County Emergency Management Director Tim Cooper said. “That’s something that if we go ahead and close this down now if we end up having to replace those air conditioning units, we wouldn’t be able to get reimbursed for that money.”
As Nassau County missed the worst of what Ian had to offer, officials made personnel available to go elsewhere in the state where the need is greater. Some of those workers have unique skills, which may result in the county bringing in a contractor in the interim to deal with issues back home, and those costs are also eligible for reimbursement.
“We have 16 Sheriff’s Office staff deployed down south to DeSoto County, so their money will be paid through the state on that state request,” Cooper said.
Nassau County freed up more people to help, also, once it was clear those people and assets could be lent elsewhere. For example, Nassau County Fire and Rescue received a call Sunday for Battalion Chief Mike Eddins to lend a hand at the Tallahassee emergency operations center.
“As you can imagine, they’re dealing with everything in Southwest Florida, and he is helping get that organized,” County Fire Chief Brady Rigdon said.
