County holds Harvey buyout kick-off meeting

The Hurricane Harvey Buyout Kick-Off Meeting was held at the Grimes County Commissioners court Monday, Feb. 3. On hand to review the terms of the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery Contract, and answer questions were representatives from the Texas General Land Office (GLO), the buyout vendor ICF, and grant administrator GrantWorks. The GLO grant award amount is $1,512,129,000 with no match required from Grimes County and the contract period is Nov. 6, 2019, through Oct. 31, 2021.

Also present were representatives from Road and Bridge, the county attorney’s office and Neal Wendele, Todd Mission City Manager.

Historic moment, safer

county

Emergency Management Services Coordinator David Lilly opened the meeting saying, “This has been a long time coming. This is actually kind of a historic moment for the county because to my knowledge, we’ve never had a buyout in Grimes County before. Hopefully, we’ll never have one again. We’ve had several citizens that have been eagerly awaiting this program to be launched. It’s not going to be far reaching because we don’t have a lot of money to spend but the impact on the citizens severely affected by Harvey is going to be huge, and it’s going to make the county safer.”

Process review

Robbie Bizot, Buyout Infrastructure Lead with ICF, said, “The buyout application as proposed will buy out 17 single family or rental properties located in four neighborhoods that were delineated in the application itself.”

Bizot clarified for the court that while the areas and neighborhoods have been identified, the 17 properties will not be completely identified until applicant intake is completed. County Judge Joe Fauth took the opportunity to confirm that the buyouts are voluntarily, and eminent domain will not be exercised.

Bizot’s presentation outlined procurement requirements, the environmental review, housing guidelines, program basics, reporting and funding.

Tyler Smith with Grant-Works discussed documentation and tracking.

Lilly advised the court, “I will be working very closely with Tyler and with the GLO as far as documentation and tracking, and I will be coordinating it with the auditor’s office.”

Responding to Commissioner Phillip Cox’s questions about cleanup and abatement of potentially hazardous waste, Smith said, “The purpose of the housing funds isn’t environmental abatement. It’s to relocate homeowners out of a flood plain, so the environmental review process is the most tailored to meeting all the federal requirements but not necessarily to clean up any environmental issue that has occurred on the property through the history of time.”

First come, first served

It was stressed that grant funds are available on a “first come, first served basis.”

Addressing prioritization, Smith said, “Because the county is required to stay at 70% of its project costs serving low to moderate income homeowners, we prioritize low to moderate income homeowners which is 80% of the area median income (AMI). Within that area we prioritize ADA, elderly, single family households and veterans in that low to moderate income category.”

According to Bizot, the county is providing two options in addition to pre-storm value.

He said, “You are going to give individuals, $5,000 for temporary living costs and moving expenses…into temporary rental property while they’re trying to find a house.”

Down Payments Assistance is capped at $35,000 and individuals must show they’re buying out of a flood plain and within Grimes County.

Smith said, “We don’t disrupt the local tax base or school district funding when we tie relocation to incentive funds.”

Bizot said, “It’s a homeowner program, even though priorities are put in place for a reason, they should be priorities based on the county’s needs, based on the citizen needs as they see them, but it is first come, first served based on priorities. It’s an unfortunate fact but there is never enough money.”

Public outreach

The guidelines and Marketing Outreach Plan will be posted for 30 days on the county’s website, in print media and on the recovery website. Smith added that Voluntary Acquisition Notices were mailed to homeowners in the affected areas in the fall of 2019. The cutoff date for applications will be clearly stated and Intake Meetings with GrantWorks will be held in Anderson.

Lilly said, “We are going to make contact with the 17 homeowners to verify whether they want the buyout, if they say no, that’s their prerogative. There will be no eminent domain exercised and they have the right to say no.”

Before adjournment, a brief discussion initiated by county attorney Jon C. Fultz was held related to mitigation credits and conservation easements.

Commissioners Chad Mallett and Barbara Walker were absent from Monday’s meeting.

Citizens may view this meeting in its entirety at https://www.grimescountytexas.gov/page/CCVideos.