TRR photo by Tom Kane FEMA's Mike Byrne addresses municipal officials during a joint hearing with SEMO at Sullivan County Airport on September 6. (Click for larger image)

By TOM KANE

WHITE LAKE - "Think big," said Robert Simmons of the New York State Emergency Organization (SEMO) to Sullivan County municipal officials last week.

The occasion was a briefing jointly held by SEMO and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at the Sullivan County Airport on September 6 to help local officials get funding for the clean-up and recovery work to infrastructures caused by the August 11 storm and flooding.

"The key word is 'mitigation' which means that we don't want to be coming back every time there is a big storm," Simmons said. "Let's do it right this time."

The towns of Tusten and Cochecton were the hardest hit by the mid-summer storm.

Although SEMO's state of emergency period extends from May 3 to August 11, which covers two separate storms, "We're only looking at August 11; that's the storm that did us damage," said Harold Kronenberg, Sullivan County Emergency Control Director.

State and federal officials said that the declaration of emergency by President Clinton only applied to municipalities and not to individuals. Town officials said that a number of individuals were hit hard, like organic farmer John Gorzynski of Cochecton Center who lost several large crops on August 11.

"I am eligible for emergency programs through USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) not from FEMA or SEMO," Gorzynski said. "They will help with restoring the soil I lost and perhaps with some of the loss of crops. I don't expect that to be large. The county's Soil and Water Conservation group is helping with clearing the silt from my streams. I'm hoping that will be 50-50."

"The numbers aren't there for individuals," said FEMA official Mike Byrne, meaning that there was not enough damage to individuals to warrant inclusion in the state of emergency.

Congressman Benjamin Gilman protested the decision by the president and urged Governor Pataki to appeal to the president to include individuals. If Pataki is turned down, Gilman urged the governor to then seek assistance from the Small Business Administration who can offer individuals low-interest loans.

"The governor is the person who has to appeal a thing like this, no one else," said Andy Zuretskie of Congressman Ben Gilman's office in DC.

By combining state and federal funding sources, the municipalities will be reimbursed for 87.5 percent of the cost of rehabilitation, Byrne said.

A special category in the emergency funding plan is a provision to assist in recovering an historic site. This is especially relevant to the county in rehabilitating the old Stone Arch Bridge at Ten Mile River, which sustained considerable damage.

"The county should first seek assistance from its insurance company and then make an appeal to us," Simmons said.

"The county is self-insured," said Bob Trotta of the county Department of Public Works. "We will seek 100 percent of the cost of repairs to the bridge."