Longmont will lend staff members with expertise in recovering from natural disasters to the city of Louisville to help that community recover from the devastating Dec. 30 wildfire.
The City Council Tuesday night unanimously agreed to pay the first $20,000 in staff time to help Louisville rebound from the fire. The funds will come from the council’s contingency fund.
Over 600 structures in Louisville were either destroyed or damaged in the fire. Preliminary estimates are that the fire caused at least $229 million in damages to both residential and public infrastructures, according to a city staff report to the city council.
Longmont is “uniquely” positioned to help Louisville in its recovery, as staff members gained experience in dealing with the 2013 flood, the staff report states.
The City Council approved an agreement with Louisville to share staff with expertise in:
- Overall organization of disaster recovery
- Writing public assistance requests for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) consideration
- Writing housing grants and monitoring with the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- Proper purchasing guidelines for both FEMA and HUD grants
- Proper accounting for both FEMA and HUD grants
- Best practices in emergency management and disaster recovery
