Howard, at the City Commission’s first meeting of the new year on Tuesday, said the two entities should be working closer together.
“We need to be inclusive with Dougherty County in our recovery efforts,” Howard said. “There was only one tornado or storm, and it impacted the city and the county. I think the county needs to be more closely involved in the things we’re doing.”
Postell echoed those sentiments, saying County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas should have an “equal role” to that of Mayor Dorothy Hubbard.
“I’ve heard people talking about how Mr. Cohilas feels like he’s being omitted (in recovery efforts),” Postell said. “I believe the County Commission chairman should have an equal role to the mayor’s.”
Hubbard stressed that she has worked closely with Cohilas since the Jan. 2 storm system that devastated an estimated 32 square miles of city and county property. Cohilas had expressed similar sentiments at Monday’s Dougherty County Commission meeting.
“I can assure you that Chairman Cohilas and I have been working closely together from the beginning of this,” the mayor said. “And we have an emergency management plan in place that spells out what everyone should do, which we’ve used as a guide. Believe me, Chairman Cohilas has been actively involved in our recovery efforts. In fact, he signed the declaration of emergency as soon as he was able to get out of his neighborhood and get downtown to sign the paperwork on Tuesday (Jan. 3).”
“You can be proud of your employees, and you can certainly be proud of your citizens,” Roberson said.
Persley said APD, with assistance from other local and state law enforcement agencies, has increased patrols, particularly in areas hardest hit by the storm, and Rowe praised city and county personnel for “working together as a true team.”
ECG official Jon Beasley offered perhaps the most sobering comment when he told commissioners, “I’ve been in this business 38 years, and I worked Hurricane Ivan and Hurricane Katrina. The damage here in Albany is very similar to those storms.”
Rice, who was a top official with GEMA before going to work at Phoebe, explained the process of collecting data to “prove our numbers” to Federal Emergency Management Agency officials who are expected to be in the community Wednesday. If uninsured losses and costs above and beyond normal operating costs in the eight Southwest Georgia counties impacted by the storm surpass $14 million, FEMA would declare the area a disaster and make federal funds available.
Howard asked if the change in administration at the White House might potentially impact the federal declaration.
“It should not make a difference, no matter who’s in the White House,” Rice said. “We need to hit FEMA officials with all of our numbers tomorrow. If we do and show that we’ve surpassed the required threshold, the governor will ask the president to declare a federal disaster. Whoever’s sitting in the president’s office should sign the declaration as a formality.”
Gov. Nathan Deal was in Albany and Southwest Georgia Tuesday to get a first-hand look at the destruction.
Asked by Postell about the failure by the National Weather Service to designate the storm system that hit downtown as a tornado, Rice said, “It’s important to note that declarations (of emergency) are not based on the type of event but on the amount of damage.”
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