Presiding Commissioner Steve Black contacted State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) representative Matthew Boley for clarification regarding the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) reimbursement appeals process, should the county go through with appealing after they receive the reimbursement.

“...I’m sending you this email as a follow-up regarding the appeal discussion for your FEMA recovery project that will be obligated in the near future,” Boley wrote. “It’s for the project information based on how I understand FEMA’s policy, the deduction being made to the project is a standard NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program) insurance reduction that gets applied to projects by FEMA.”

If FEMA believes that a property should have a flood insurance policy, they check local floodplain mapping to determine if it resides in a special flood hazard zone. If it does, the property is expected to have a flood insurance policy.

Boley said FEMA may or may not issue a standard determination memo for the project when it is obligated.

“If they do not, their obligation of the project still meets the statutory definition of a statement on eligibility for the purposes of filing a first appeal,” Boley said.

Crawford County will have 60 days from obligation (the day the project is approved) to submit to SEMA/FEMA’s grant portal for review. Black made the clarification that the project is considered obligated when they receive the money. SEMA then has up to 120 days to review the appeal and submit it to FEMA with the county’s recommendation.

Boley said that the county may have grounds to stand on for appealing.

“Crawford County must make an argument that would convince FEMA to overturn their decision. This would require more information that FEMA did not have when the first decision was made,” Boley said.

He believes that the appeal could be filed based on the financial strain that the extra $36,000, in addition to the existing insurance payments, already has on the county.

Black mentioned Boley doesn’t understand why the money hasn’t been dispersed yet.

“He looked in their portal, and it shows that money has been sitting there, waiting to be dispersed since April,” Black said.

​ With no further updates available, Treasurer Karen Sikes wanted to update the commissioners on county investments.

“I got a list from Peoples Bank yesterday because we did just buy another CD, one that matured with Raymond James. We’re trying to get all those moved over from Raymond James,” Sikes said.

“...Five different withdrawals we’ve had from the Raymond James,” Sikes said. “Most of it went into CDs. We did have to keep some of that out for the flood, to cover the cost that we had to pay....”

There is a little over $361,000 left from Raymond James.

Black asked when that money would move to the bank.

“So between now and June, we’ll be moving $361,000 from Raymond James to Peoples Bank?” Black asked.

“Right,” Sikes said.

​ In other business, Recorder Kim Cook discussed a panel she spoke on about property fraud.

“It was very informative. It was very interesting to hear the other side of it from the title industry side, and then from the realtor side,” Cook said. “You know the experiences they’re having with title fraud and property fraud.”

Cook recommended a notification service that they offer.

“We do offer a free notification service through our vendor. It will not stop the fraud from happening, but it will alert you to a document that’s recorded, where it can stop a lot of damage from being done,” Cook said.