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County told FEMA grant award rescinded; staff to continue flood work while awaiting design funding for dam decommissioning
Summary
Staff reported the county's FEMA grant under the resilience program was rescinded, risking reimbursement of about $43,571 and clawback of roughly $105,000 in unused funds; committee heard updates on dam decommissioning design funding with NRCS and on insurance and liability concerns.
Committee members were told that a federal grant the county had relied on for flood mitigation work has been rescinded. Meeting testimony said the county is likely to lose about $43,571 in FEMA-funded reimbursements paid to contractors and face clawback of approximately $105,000 in unused grant funds.
Staff said the removed funding had been intended to support a range of activities: hiring staff time to lead the project, entering historical flood-damage records into the statewide WebEOC system, acquiring tablets for field damage surveys, developing an RTIS flood dashboard, and contracting for hydro-enforced digital elevation models to inform agricultural conservation planning.
Cassie (staff member) said the county will continue the flood-mitigation work using existing staff, but without federal reimbursement for staff time. Staff described outreach to Senator Tammy Baldwin's office and Representative Derrick Van Orden's office seeking programmatic and appropriations support for the design phase; they said NRCS currently holds the project pending design-phase funding.
Committee members raised insurance and liability questions. Staff said the county's insurer had indicated concern over leaving dams in place and that, if the county did not move forward with decommissioning, the insurer might drop coverage for certain structures because of perceived risk. The county is awaiting design-phase funding for decommissioning and continues to pursue federal and state support.
Staff also described plans (previously included in the grant scope) to train municipalities on a mobile damage-survey app (Survey123) and to compile historical damage records back to February 2007 in WebEOC for individual-assistance and public records.
Outlook: The committee directed staff to continue work where feasible and to keep the board informed while pursuing alternative funding sources; staff will report to the county board and update the committee when new funding or design progress is secured.
