Christian Owen, Haywood County finance director, updated commissioners on FEMA reimbursements tied to Hurricane Helene, saying the county has $15.8 million of active projects in the FEMA portal and has received $623,000 in reimbursement to date.

Owen summarized the project list and status: smaller category B projects (lodging/meals, law enforcement mutual aid) have been obligated and, in at least one case, paid; a category A debris project for right‑of‑way debris was obligated on Aug. 15 and is now with the state for review. He said the most substantial claim — approximately $13.8 million for waterway debris removal — is listed as “pending application completion” in FEMA’s system and has progressed to FEMA’s local grant manager for review. Owen warned FEMA has been issuing large, detailed requests for information (RFIs) — “50 questions” in some cases — which has slowed obligations.

“You see that it's, for the waterway debris and it's 13,800,000.0. That is, assigned the status of pending application completion… all of the initial documentation… has been provided to FEMA,” Owen said, adding that FEMA still has multiple review steps remaining.

Owen walked through other categories: a private property debris project (~$19,546.80 listed in the portal), labor and materials for damage inspections (placeholder estimate to begin uploading documentation), emergency protective measures (labor and equipment) still to be calculated because staff must tally timesheets and equipment hours on FEMA forms, and a road‑sign replacement tally for roughly 80 signs lost.

He said management costs (up to 5% of total project costs) are included in the portal and totaled roughly $790,000 at the moment. Owen estimated, based on historical timelines, that some obligated debris funds could arrive in about a month but cautioned the current FEMA process has more RFIs and longer steps than during prior events such as Tropical Storm Fred, when reimbursements were faster and denials were minimal.

Commissioners discussed the local budget implications; one put the unreimbursed amount into tax‑rate terms and said the county is covering costs out of reserves and a short‑term bridge loan while awaiting FEMA funds. Owen and other county staff said answering FEMA RFIs requires coordination among finance, emergency management and other departments, and that category A debris projects were being referred to a debris task force for further review.

Ending: County staff will continue to process documentation and respond to RFIs; commissioners said they plan advocacy with state and federal officials to speed reimbursements for what they described as a large, regionally shared disaster claim.