Flood funding may be available

Jay County residents may be able to apply for reimbursement for flood damage, but the channels such requests would go through and the source of potential funding haven’t been determined yet.
Ralph Frazee, director of Jay County Emergency Management Agency, updated the Jay County Commissioners on the reimbursement process at their Monday morning meeting.
Indiana counties are collecting information about flood damage to send to the state, which will pass the information along to Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA will then decide whether or not to declare the flooding a disaster.
If FEMA doesn’t declare Indiana’s June flooding a disaster, the state can still do so.
There are “so many variables” in figuring out reimbursement, Frazee told commissioners Faron Parr and Doug Inman, with Jim Zimmerman absent.
If Jay County qualifies for reimbursement, whether at a state or federal level, damage from both of June’s floods could qualify.
Jay County EMA will assist home and business owners with applying for reimbursement if the county qualifies.
The county should hear from the state within 30 days about the information it submitted, Frazee said.
The commissioners also:
•Heard from highway department superintendent Ken Wellman that the department received two bids for a new dump truck: $108,818 from Kenworth and $99,899 from Stoops Freightliner – Quality Trailer. Wellman will review the bids and make a recommendation.
•Heard Jay County EMS director Pat Frazee is purchasing a new gas grill for the Portland EMS base.
•Granted an easement across Morton Street to Indiana Michigan Power so power lines can be connected to the 4-H building at Jay County Fairgrounds.
•Heard from Cliff Moser, director of the veterans affairs department, about the department’s 2016 budget, which will be similar to last year’s. The department is trying to go paperless and received a grant for an electronic signature pad to assist in that effort.
•Also heard from Ralph Frazee that the EMA budget will remain the same, except for a $100 increase in insurance that covers liability for volunteers.