Mayor Stothert on Storm Relief Efforts

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This give us an overall if youken, I know the governor has designated
maybe the emergency declaration for three counties, including Douglas. What is the overall
status here in Omaha as the recoveryefforts are underway. Well, you know,
first of all, I have toI have to say, we give
our message a support and concern forall of those experiencing loss. And I

(00:20):
really wanted to think and emphasize thatall of our partners in government, like
the governor, like our federal delegation, city council members, and nonprofit we
continue to work together to provide resourcesand support and that's really really important.
I also will sign a declara orproclamation of emergency, a disaster emergency today

(00:42):
that was arranged a day or soago with Paul Johnson with Douglas County.
Hey, what does that? Whatdoes that do? Mayor? What that
does is it just allows us thento be able to get reimbursed from the
state and FEMA federal government for disasterrelief and the costs that it will cost
us. And it also lets thepeople know that, you know, we

(01:04):
had this great, big, unexpectedexpense that the city. There's a lot
of expenses the city will have toand is more than willing to cover.
So that's what that means. Itmakes you eligible to get state and federal
FEMA funding for reimbursements for the cleanup efforts. Okay, good, but
almaha did I mean? I wasjust I got to say I was amazed.

(01:26):
First of all, our first responders, fire and police. They mobilized
very very quickly. They were outon the ground before the storm finished.
They set up command centers out inElkhorn. Our fire department started at four
on Friday doing search and rescue andwent through every single structure that had been
damaged. They were done by aboutnine p thirty that night. You know,

(01:47):
thank goodness, no one was killed. I know we're all talking about
that, but you know, there'sthings that we are still doing. It's
it's still an effort of assessing thesituation and really, once we know what
the task is, the city willact immediately to help everyone in need of
our assistants and get Our goal isto get people back in their homes as

(02:07):
soon as possible. So I hadalready asked Councilman Brinker Harding because it's mostly
in his district. There is somethingin city code that this council will vote
to wave tomorrow, which I'm surethey will, to waive any kind of
building permits. We do have ameeting today with Douglas County Briefing at ten

(02:29):
am and all of our chief inspectorswill be there to see what we can
do to expediate the help that everyoneis needing to get people their permits and
to get them back in their homes. The building permits will be prioritized and
expedited. We're going to do allof that that we possibly can to help
people get back in their homes.Another thing is people have a lot of

(02:52):
questions about is they wanted a placefor the debris, And right off the
bat, they said the Douglas CountyLandfill, which is Peasant View. It's
owned by Waste Management, it isoperated by Douglas County, and they initially
were charging and I know a lotof people were angry about that. The
Douglas County Board did since then voteto waive that feet out at Pheasant View,

(03:15):
But the city also opened up asite at Greenbrier Park out in Elkhorn,
and that site has always been freeand it's open every day from nine
to seven and we're just telling peopleto enter from the park drive from the
north side. And then starting todaythere's going to be another debris disposal opening

(03:36):
at two Rivers State Park and that'sabout Highway ninety two and about two hundred
and sixty fourth or sixty fifth Street, and that will be for trees and
limbs and green debris. I alsowant to check in today to see if
we could provide some of those reallybig construction style dumpsters and elcorn like the
ones being used for big neighborhood cleanupsthat we use and put them in neighborhoods.

(04:00):
We're going to work on that todayfor like wood and broken furniture and
dry wall and things like that,because those debris drop off sites aren't taking
those items quite yet. Okay,now, talk about just to clarify what
you're doing with building permits, Mayor. What you're doing is you're prioritizing building
permits for reconstruction of homes lost tostorms. You're not waiving requirements for getting

(04:25):
a building permit, right, well, not waving the requirement, but because
that's about safety exactly. You know, to have a building permit is all
about safety and to make sure thatthat house is either going to be demoed
and rebuilt or reconstructed if they're ableto. What I am saying is that
number one, we're not going tocharge for those building permits. And number

(04:46):
two, the meeting today will discusswhat we can do working with Douglas County
to expedite those permits and get themprioritized and get them done as quick as
they can, whatever it takes toget these people back in their houses as
soon as they can, because whathappens a lot of them. Yeah,
a lot of times guys roll intotown after disasters, and these are people

(05:08):
to knock on doors and say,I'll rebuild your house for a fraction of
what the other guy does. Peopleare vulnerable to these kinds of very unfortunate
individuals and they capitalize on communities ado Wave Building Code requires absolutely they do,
and we warn people and we wantto continue to warn people about that.
You know, everybody wants to helpright now. My job was mostly

(05:30):
in the last couple of days toorganize and to make sure everything was being
done that we can and you know, coordinate with all of these different entities
we had wanting to help, butlike for donations, everybody's wanting to know
what they can do give to thosethose nonprofits that you are familiar with and
you're comfortable with. You know awhile Community Foundation, United Way came out

(05:53):
right away. You can call twoone one, Salvation Army, Red Cross.
Those are all organizations that people arefamiliar with. But do be cautious
of these construction companies that come intotown after a big storm say that they're
going to do this without a buildingpermit and get it done quickly, and
then people give them money and thenthat's the last they see of them.

(06:13):
So I think to continue to havea building permit is really critical. Just
quickly, mayor do the emergency declarationsallow for any direct financial support for families
who maybe living months to month andall of a sudden they got no home,
you know, not directly to families. It's mostly about clean up in

(06:34):
the area and getting you back theway you were before, which is a
huge amount of dollars. But thesefoundations that we have that I just mentioned,
I mean, I was amazed bySaturday. This happened on Friday.
By Saturday, the amount of moneythat had already come in in the huge
amount of money from some of ourbig companies in Omaha. Was just it

(06:57):
was unbelievable. And so people arereally giving money for those things that you
just said that, especially United Wayand on the Community Foundation. You know,
they helped us with our ARPA fundingand they know how to get that
money out and to make sure it'sbeing used for the right purpose. Okay,
mere, thank you. Let usknow any more information that needs to
get out will be here, youbet. Thanks for having me. Appreciate

(07:17):
your time, maryor Jeane Stothard hereon have AB's Morning News