Published: June 18, 2009 03:32 pm      

FEMA to establish trailer park, official says

Army Corps of Engineers to provide infrastructure

A temporary Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) mobile home park is under construction in Lizard Creek Park, according to Dean Meadows, Wyoming County Emergency Services director.

Meadows said there will be places for 25 mobile homes to house Hanover area residents displaced by May 9 flooding and the park should be ready in about 30 days.

Those living in the “FEMA trailers” can stay in the park for up to 18 months, Meadows told county commissioners during their meeting Wednesday.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will provide necessary infrastructure, Meadows told commissioners.

The site has been used for previous temporary emergency housing, he explained.

In other matters, Dave Cole, of Region I Planning and Development Council, told commissioners they must move quickly to meet requirements for re-filing an application for the Hanover water project before Aug. 20.

The previous application included serving only phase one areas of the project, which included Hanover to the school, Cole said.

Now, if the application is revamped to pull in federal stimulus money, the entire project area — serving 1,200 potential customers — can be constructed at one time rather than in phases, Cole explained.

The entire project will include the areas of Wyoming County between the Mingo and McDowell County borders, according to Mike Goode, county clerk.

The revamped application will use R.D. Bailey Lake as a water source with a new water treatment plant designed to serve all of Wyoming County, along with portions of Mingo and McDowell counties, in the event the water is needed.

Federal stimulus funds will be used to construct the plant, according to officials.

The Ravencliff-Sausville-McGraw Public Service District will likely serve as the PSD for the project, once the board members approve it. The commission will still act as project administrators.

“If you move fast enough, you stand to get the stimulus money through (USDA Rural Utilities),” Cole told commissioners.

In other business, commissioners agreed to provide up to $12,500 for three consecutive years to Groundwork Wyoming County, a non-profit agency that will work to improve the environment and create recreational areas in the county, contingent upon the group meeting their responsibilities.

The group originally asked the commission for $25,000 each year for three years to bring Groundwork USA matching monies into the county, but were turned down because the $25,000 would be used to pay staff rather than complete projects.

In recent months, the group has raised $18,800 to meet the matching fund requirements for the Groundwork USA project to move forward in Wyoming County, the group told commissioners. They have small pledges from area businesses to cover the local matching money for the next three years, the three women said.

Among their proposed projects is a scenic byway that will start in Maben and wind through Oceana, they told commissioners.

“We’ve got 74 homes on that ridge top that don’t have safe drinking water,” commission president Silas Mullins, pointing to a county map, told the committee members representing Groundwork Wyoming County.

“Do we invest our money in Groundwork Trust, with no guarantee, or do we provide those people with safe drinking water?” Silas Mullins asked.

“You do both,” the committee members replied.

“If we give you this money, what are we going to have in three years?” Silas Mullins asked.

Commission member Jason Mullins emphasized the county is “watching every dime” and $12,500 is “a lot of money.”

However, commissioner Sam Muscari, with Jason Mullins, pushed the project through to approval.

“We are going to make this project work, right?” Jason Mullins asked the committee members.

“We know we are going to have to prove ourselves,” said Sue Cline, a Groundwork committee member.

Cline also pledged to work for the whole county rather than one area.

“Every area (of the county) will be touched in some way,” she told commissioners.