By Beth Christian Broschart
The Parsons Advocate
PARSONS – Representatives from the city and county are still hard at work looking for funds to repair damages in the Pulp Mill Bottom Dike. It appears huge strides were made during a special meeting call Wednesday of the Tucker County Commission. During that meeting, Tucker County Prosecuting Attorney Ray LaMora and Parsons City Attorney Pat Nichols each gave their impression about the Pulp Mill Bottom Dike and what they felt the responsibility of a sponsor means in regard to the dike.
“I have reached out to a couple different agencies – the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – and I really haven’t gotten anything back from them,” LaMora said. “Pat and I have had a couple of in-depth conversations about this. I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on the semantics of it but we are going to come to the same conclusion.”
LaMora said he did not believe the Dam Control Act has anything to do with this.
“But if you go into the Department of Agriculture’s information (for the Emergency Watershed Protection Program), their definition of what the responsibility of what a sponsor is, is controlling and it states that a project sponsor means someone who is capable of carrying out the operation and maintenance responsibilities that may be required,” LaMora read. “Furthermore, a sponsor must agree to provide for any required operation and maintenance of the completed measures.”
LaMora said he thinks that puts the Tucker County Commission, as the sponsor of that program, on as the person responsible for making these changes. “I think it would be beneficial for an emergency meeting to take place following this meeting because there is a deadline of Monday (to apply for funding to help complete needed repairs.)”
LaMora said an emergency meeting to follow the special meeting was posted, and will be to discuss and approve, and have a vote on the matter.
Commissioner Diane Hinkle asked LaMora if by virtue of agreeing to this, it means the Tucker County Commission is inferring ownership. “At last week’s meeting, I asked the grant administrators (the FEMA representative and Homeland Security representative) if by virtue of us agreeing to sponsor this, if that inferred ownership,” Hinkle said. “They said it does. It’s one thing to be a sponsor – it’s another thing to be the owner.”
LaMora said he did not believe the documents said ‘ownership’ but merely ‘responsibility.’
“That’s what we talked about before,” Nichols said.
LaMora said the documents did not say ownership. “That is going to take more research,” LaMora said. “It does say responsibility. In my opinion, the County Commission are the ones that probably need to be on that application.”
LaMora said he thought it would be beneficial to move forward to attempt to get funding to fix the Pulp Mill Bottom Dike.
“If for some reason, there is a major detriment to the County Commission, just putting it in your name and moving forward with funding does not mean you have to accept it (the funds),” LaMora said. “I think once we are working with FEMA and Homeland Security, once we are working with them, we can get all the paperwork and get more information and study it from here on out. I don’t think this is something where they will give us the funds and tell us we have to accept them within a 24 hour period.”
Nichols told Hinkle certain responsibilities run with being a sponsor.
“Is there a difference in being a sponsor and being an owner?” Hinkle said.
“Not much,” Nichols said in response.
Commission President Lowell Moore said he wanted to clarify one thing. “We are agreeing on the FEMA Soil Conservation of 1986 and the Federal Regulations that pertain to that, not the Dam Act,” Moore said.
Commissioner Patrick Darlington asked what happened if the Commission applies for the grant and no monies come through.
“That’s what Greg Myers said,” Nichols said. “The process would be you make the application and they make no guarantees it will be approved. If FEMA has the ability to do the enhanced program, he can piggy back on that to get folks in the Pulp Mill Bottom to get off the flood map. The FEMA man indicated they were working hand in hand. It is my understanding that Mr. Myers said if the grant is denied, they would appeal it. I don’t know all those steps.”
“If we apply and it is denied and we appeal and it is denied, and there is no money to fix this thing, where does the responsibility lie,” Darlington asked.
“I don’t know that,” Nichols replied.
LaMora said they are 30 years down the road from when the project was initially started. “We are just now finding out this is our responsibility,” LaMora said. “If this was something that was clear to everyone from the beginning, I am sure there would have been maintenance completed in the past three decades.”
Moore said in 2010, the Tucker County Commission had the levy inspected. “They found no major problems with the levy at this time,” he said.
Nichols said in 1986 when the dike was completed, the Commission should have had easements prepare along with a whole bunch of work. “No one did anything. It just sat there,” Nichols said.
Tucker County Commissioners adjourned the special meeting, and then opened up the emergency meeting.
LaMora said the agenda for the emergency meeting was to discuss and approve the sponsorship of the grant application for the Pulp Mill Bottom Levy.
Darlington moved the Commission sponsor the grant application for funding to fix the Pulp Mill Bottom Dike.
LaMora said the city made an application for funds to fix the Pulp Mill Bottom Dike. “They were denied based on the ownership and the fact that they did not have responsibility to complete repairs according to Homeland Security,” LaMora said. “The County Commission, after completing some research, believes that we do have the responsibility to make those repairs and we are applying for the funds the city had applied for.”
All three Tucker County Commissioners voted to apply for the funds to fix the Pulp Mill Bottom Dike.
