Advance preparation could enable the county to receive additional federal relief funds in case of a disaster, according to Danny Shows, president and CEO of Schaus Disaster Assistance Services.
The county will pay as much as $13,500 to the Ellisville-based firm.
“This is being proactive rather than reactive,” said District 5 Supervisor Billy Joe Holland during a Tuesday morning board meeting.
Shows appeared at Tuesday’s meeting and discussed the services his firm will provide Lee County.
He told board members that rules governing how federal grants are managed have changed and that his firm will enable Lee County to prepare for disaster response in a way that complies with these updated rules.
Schaus also will write a plan detailing how the county will manage and remove debris after a disaster.
The firm will also help establish a list of pre-qualified contractors able to conduct debris removal and debris monitoring.
Contract templates and other document templates will also be compiled.
The debris management plan, the pre-qualified contractor list and the other documents should remain valid up to five years if renewed, Shows said.
Supervisors voted to approve a contract with Schaus, pending review by the board’s attorney.
Under that contract, total costs charged by the firm will not exceed $13,500.
If disaster strikes, his services should pay for themselves, Shows said.
In the event of a federal disaster declaration, Shows said the federal share of relief costs is typically 75 percent.
But with the preparation of the debris plan Schaus will help design, an additional 2 percent of federal relief funds should be available.
In the event of a disaster, that extra 2 percent of funds would almost certainly more than pay for the contract’s cost, Shows told supervisors.
Under the proposed but not yet official contract, Schaus would have two years to deliver all the promised documents.
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