HomeMy WebLinkAbout20141030.tiff U.S.Department of Homeland Security
FEMA State Joint Field Office
FEMA 4145-DR-CO
RECEIVED 9200 East Mineral Ave
Centennial,CO 80112
MAR 2 6 2014 -/ ® FE A
WELD COUNTY oFLANffn SE�J
COMMISSIONERS
March 24, 2014
Mr. Douglas Rademacher, Chair
Office of County Commissioners
Weld County
1150 O Street
P.O. Box 758
Greeley, CO 80632
Dear Mr. Rademacher:
Thank you for your letter of March 12, 2014 that addresses some of your concerns related to the
content on project worksheets for your various road and bridge repairs. I also wanted you to
know that I believe that I and my Infrastructure Branch Director, Roger Jones,had a very
productive conversation in Estes Park last week at the State sponsored flood preparedness
conference with Roy Rudissil and Merrie Leach of your Emergency Management Office.
As indicated in your letter, at issue are special comments that the County wishes to be included
in all Cat C project worksheets (PW)which would indicate that the scopes of work and costs
captured in those PW's should not necessarily be considered as final scopes of work. In fact,the
County remains concerned that the fmal damages may not have yet been understood,that the
current scopes of work and costs may not necessarily reflect what the final repair and costs might
be, and that until such time as your engineering firm has completed its assessment,an
understanding of what mitigation efforts might prove to be both efficacious and cost effective is
not known.
From the beginning of this discussion between FEMA and Weld County,the County has
requested that all of these road and bridge PW's (Category C),be written as emergency
protective measures (Category B)under the assumption that this would allow them the flexibility
to modify and augment scopes of work as the work progressed. This is actually not at all true. In
context of road or bridge repair, an emergency protective measure PW may be written for the
conduct of such items as temporary type repair such as temporary culvert or crossing placements
when such original crossings have been washed away,temporary road repair when necessary to
re-establish and emergency access in support of various critical functions in support of life,
health and safety. In the Weld County instance, FEMA does not agree that the work that is
generally being accomplished fits this description. To the contrary, it is evident that the work
that Weld County is currently engaged with, and FEMA has actively worked to provide estimated
funding is indeed permanent work that is not an emergency in nature. It is true that additional
work may be incrementally applied either through additional scopes of work, or applicable
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DR-4145-CO: Weld County
March 24, 2014
Page 2 of 4
mitigation efforts. This should not, however, change the character of the PW in such a way that
it should be categorized as a category B emergency protective measure.
FEMA not only understands your concern but agrees that many of the PW's may require versions
to capture additional scopes of work and costs, including mitigation. The Public Assistance
Program is built around the flexibility to address such situations. In fact, a review of our Public
Assistance Policy Digest,publication FEMA 321, dated January 2008, page 27, addresses this
situation. "Because of the nature of the Public Assistance Program, applicants may find that in
most instances costs estimates are approved by FEMA prior to the completion of the associated
work. On occasion, the actual costs incurred by the applicant during the performance of the work
exceed the approved estimate. This situation is known as a Cost Overrun. Costs Overruns are
usually caused by one of the following:
➢ Hidden damage: additional disaster damage may become evident.
➢ Variations in unit pricing: The unit prices used in the cost estimate may have been lower
than those the applicant was actually charged.
➢ Change in the scope of work: While performing the work, the applicant may find that
additional eligible work or changes in the prescribed work are necessary.
➢ Delay in starting or completion times: Problems beyond the applicant's control may
contribute to delays in starting or completing work."
In an ongoing effort to demonstrate that FEMA does indeed understand the County's concern, we
worked with your staff and contract consultant Base Tactical to devise language that would be
added to each category C permanent repair project worksheet. And in fact, we did indeed agree
on such language. It was only after weeks of additional work that the County reversed its
previous agreement and wanted to proceed in a different direction.
In an effort to work through what became a disagreement in approach, I asked my Infrastructure
Branch Director, Roger Jones to visit with your staff to clarify the intent,purposes and
flexibilities of the Public Assistance Program. He did so on Thursday, March 6, 2014. He left
that meeting with an understanding that he has reassured the County and addressed their
concerns.
As we move forward, and after careful discussion with Mr. Jones, FEMA will continue to assess
all damaged sites, write project worksheets based on actual repair costs when available, or
estimates when they are not, and will be available to re-assess sites upon request, when the
county feels that such re-inspection is necessary as provided by the many flexibilities offered
under the PA program as described earlier in this letter. FEMA will respond to any of the four
situations described above as well as also including when the county identifies that there may be
effective mitigation opportunities. In the past two weeks in fact, I understand that our PA staff
has reassessed in coordination with the County, a total of seven sites.
Since the PA program has clear language granting the very flexibility that the County believes is
necessary, no additional comments will be added to the project worksheets. In an effort to be
fair, however, FEMA will insure that the full history of this discussion is documented in our case
DR-4145-CO: Weld County
March 24, 2014
Page 3 of 4
management file as a permanent record for Weld County. We will include the following items in
this record:
➢ The two "scope notes"that were initially agreed upon by FEMA and Weld County
➢ The Weld County letter dated March 5, 2014
➢ The Weld county proposed"scope notes"dated March 5,2014
➢ The FEMA alternative"Proposed Revision"that was felt appropriately addressed the
Weld County concerns, yet remained consistent with the provisions of the PA Program
➢ The Weld County letter dated March 12, 2014
➢ This letter
The above permanent record will insure that any future reviewer will be able to clearly
understand Weld County concerns as well as FEMA's understanding that there will indeed be
occasions where the current scopes of work and costs may need to be re-evaluated.
It is also important to understand that to date,FEMA has not denied any assistance to Weld
County for road and bridge repair. All requests for site inspections have been honored, all
damaged sites have been,or are in the process of being captured on project worksheets,and all
eligible costs have been included.
I also wanted to recap for you where we are with assistance to Weld County. FEMA currently
projects that we will ultimately write a total of 30 project worksheets for Weld County. As of
this date, FEMA in coordination with your staff have identified damages and costs of$9.8
million of disaster related costs representing a potential federal reimbursement of$7.35 million.
It is fully expected that as the County engineers complete their assessments, and appropriate 406
mitigation projects are identified, these numbers will increase. A summary of these project
worksheets follow.
Number $$ Federal Share
of PW's
Projects Entered into PA EMMIE 21 $3,982,687
system
• PW's obligated as of 03/22 7 $2,830,098
• PW's schedule to obligate first 11 $1,017,197
week of April
• PW's entered and under review 3 $ 135,392
PW's written, under review 4 $ 973,000 est
PW's under development 5 tbd
Total 30 tbd
DR-4145-CO: Weld County
March 24, 2014
Page 4 of 4
I remain confident that our Public Assistance staff is committed to the recovery needs of Weld
County. I also believe that the commitments and reassurances that have been provided are
consistent with the PA Program and will meet the needs of Weld County.
Please feel free to reach out to us should you have additional concerns.
Sincerely,
'C'S\
Thorp s J. McCool
Disa e Recovery Manager
Federal Coordinating Officer
FEMA-4145-DR-CO
Enclosures
cc: Roy Rudissil, Weld County
Bruce Holloman, DHSOEM
Roger Jones, FEMA
Jose Palacio, FEMA
Mark Spahr, FEMA
Mark Wilson,FEMA
Scott Baldwin, DHSOEM
Kevin Kuretich, DHSOEM
Scope Notes currently being added to all Weld
County Cat C PW's
This represents those comments that were initially agreed upon by Weld County and FEMA PA and were
being added to all Category C PW's.
Scope Notes currently being added to all Weld County Cat C PWs:
1. Following the September 2013 flooding, applicant used contract services and/or force
account resources to re-open roads/bridges and repair damage as soon as possible. At
several damage sites, repairs appear to have returned the facility to its pre-disaster
design, function and capacity with no known remaining work to be completed.
However at other sites due to the onset of winter conditions, applicant was unable to
complete the restoration, thus leaving work to be completed. Finally, at some sites,
applicant has expressed concern that unanticipated work may be still be required as a
result of conditions beyond their control, such as possible subsequent settlement
resulting from saturated soil conditions following the flood or where high water levels or
erosion/deposition prevented a complete damage assessment.
2. This PW addresses all validated flood related damages at the specified site(s), including
completed work and work to be completed (which damages were known to the
applicant and reported to FEMA by the effective date of this PW). In the event that
applicant identifies subsequent, currently unknown flood related damage at such site(s),
applicant is advised to contact the State of Colorado Office of Emergency Management
to report the damage and request an inspection prior to its repair. In the event that the
State validates the damage as a direct result of the September 2013 flooding,the State
will request FEMA prepare a version of this PW to address the eligible cost of repair.
The Applicant will notify FEMA and the State of their intent to perform permanent work
related to this site before any work commences in the field Failure to do so may
jeopardize the sub-grant for permanent work related to the work in this sub-grant.
Weld County letter dated March 5, 2014
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
•� r861 1150 O STREET
P.Q. BOX 758
Il GREELEY, COLORADO 80632
PHONE: 970-336-7204
� TY FAX: 970-352-0242
Gp N �
March 5, 2014
Bruce Holaman
State Coordinating Office
DHSOEM
9195 E Mineral Ave Suite 200
Centennial Co. 80112-3556
Re: Request for Change of Standard Language-
Dear Mr. Holaman:
•
The Board of County Commissioners of Weld County respectfully requests that the two
paragraphs set forth below be required in the Project Notes section of the Scope of Work in each
permanent work Project Worksheets (PW)drafted by FEMA for Weld County. This text will
replace the current paragraphs 1 and 2 in all PWs. The Board requests this text because of
several factors of the flood recovery (listed below), and because FEMA has refused to write the
emergency work conducted in Weld County on Category B (Emergency Protective Measures)
PWs:
•
Factors:
• Weld County conducted work (emergency protective measures) on impacted facilities
using force account resources and contractors,to re-open roads and bridges, initiating
temporary and/or.emergency repairs.
•
• • These repairs were made to ensure that roads and bridges that had been impassable or
were impacted by flooding were open for public right of way as soon as possible.
• It was not the intent of these emergency repairs to restore the road and bridge facilities to
a pre-incident condition. The intent was only to restore.the use of these facilities to the
public as soon as possible. •
• The PW(s)do not address work to be:completed to restore the specified.site(s)to a pre-
incident condition.
Letter, Holman
March 5,2014
Page 2
• Due to the climate of northern.Colorado and the winter weather that began j.ust'a few' •
weeks after the flooding, it is impossible to conduct permanent restoration of the facilities
im:pacted by the flooding until the late Spring and/or Summer;2014. (D ue to heavy
winter snow in the,mountains,Weld.County is anticipating heavy Spring runoff.)
• • Thus,the permanent restoration of these facilities is prevented by conditions beyond
Weld County's control. .
• 'Weld County has tasked consulting engineers...with determining the appropriate .
restoration and mitigation improvements,needed'at these facilities. This effort will not be - ' •
coingleted for.several'months: . .
It is,anticipated that permanent scopes.of work will be developed and implemented, as.
soon as the.weather'conditions allow or restoration and mitigation activities. These
activities will be introduced-as.permanent work and.mitigation•on future'submittals:as •
soon as''they are developed: •
• the Board would prefer that in addition to this required:text,•the 406 Mitigation Proposals for
• . each pW not be drafted by FEMA,.butrather, drafted-at a.later time when the Consulting
. Engineers, Public Works,and the Commissioners decide on the best solutions-.for mitigation
• . improyenients. Ad.ditionally,'the Ocarct,believes that F..EMA,should include a statement in the -
Project Notes,,.indicating the'scope of work to.be.:included in 4,00 Mitigation Proposal i s being_
determined arid.will be submitted at later elate. FEMA should:not state:that mitigation.is not
feasible.
Re uested text for each Cate of 'C PI Sco c of Work Projeet Notes
Q g � '(Scope J )
•
1. Following the September 2013 flooding,the applicant used force account resources and
.contractors-, to stabilize and re-open roads'and bridges for public use. The applicant
initiated temporal em ergency protective measures and emer'gency.repaits. These repairs°
were made to ensure that;roads and bridges that had been impassable:.or were.impacted by..
'flooding:were open for righ
t ht of way as soon as possible. It was not the intent of
.
these:emergency repairs to restore the road andbridge facilidea to a.pre-disaster.
condition., Once:the winter period is over,inspection, design,:and construction for
permanent restoration:of these facilities with 40.6 hazard mitigation where possible;will .
•complete the:.permanent repairs to the damaged sites. Engineering cost estimates:and 406
hazard mitigation solutions will be submitted to FEMA and the Colorado OEM as soon
as:these are:able to be developed
Letter, Holman. -
March 5,201.4 •
Page
The roads and bridges referenced in this PW are the responsibility of Weld County,
Colorado. All sites are listed in the PW with their respective latitude and longitude
locations..
2. This.PW addresses validated flood related damages at the specified site, including
completed work and work to he completed for damages-and repair work which were
known to the applicant and reported to FEMA by the effective date of this PW.'It"is.
understood that there will be additional permanent work-Which will be done after the
winter period. In the event thatapplicant:identifies subsequent,currently unknown flood
related damage at such site,:applicant is advised to contact the State of Colorado Office of
Emergency Management to report the damage and request an inspection prior to its
repair:-In.the event that.the:.State validates the damage as a direct result of the September
2013 flooding;.the State will:request.FEMA prepare a version of this PW to address the.
eligible cost:of repair. --
i
If you have any questions,pleasefeel fl-ce to call Roy RuthsiU,Weld County Authorized... .
Representative at 970-381-0417 or::Tomthy B. florton;:Executive Director, Base Tactical
Disaster Recovery,at 850-59`1=$240:.:They may be contacted,by a-mail at:
RRudisill@co.weld.co..us or TH9rton@BaseTactical.cnm.
eerely, •
Douglas Rademacher;:; hairman,
Board of County Commissioners of Weld County.
pc: Mark.Spahr, FEMA PAC
JosePalacio, FEMA Branch.Manager:-:
Kevin Ktiretich,=DHSOE11 I Field Manager
Scott Baldwin,`DHS.OEM°PA:Coordinator:: .
Scope Notes roposed by eld County
Commissioner's Letter dated March 5, 2014
These notes were provided by Weld County to replace the previously agreed upon scope notes. It is the
intent of these notes to effectively recognize all road and bridge project worksheets as category B
emergency work. FEMA does not agree with this approach.
Scope Notes proposed by Weld County Commissioners'Letter dated 3/5/2014:
1. Following the September 2013 flooding, the applicant used force account resources and
contractors,to stabilize and re-open roads and bridges for public use. The applicant
initiated temporary emergency protective measures and emergency repairs. These
repairs were made to ensure that roads and bridges that had been impassable or were
impacted by flooding were open for public right of way as soon as possible. It was not
the intent of these emergency repairs to restore the road and bridge facilities to a pre-
disaster condition. Once the winter period is over, inspection, design, and construction
for permanent restoration of these facilities with 406 hazard mitigation where possible,
will complete the permanent repairs to the damaged sites. Engineering cost estimates
and 406 hazard mitigation solutions will be submitted to FEMA and the Colorado OEM
as soon as these are able to be developed. The roads and bridges referenced in this PW
are the responsibility of Weld County, Colorado. All sites are listed in the PW with their
respective latitude and longitude locations.
2. This PW addresses validated flood related damages at the specified site, including
completed work and work to be completed for damages and repair work which were
known to the applicant and reported to FEMA by the effective date of this PW..It is
understood that there will be additional permanent work which will be done after the
winter period. In the event that applicant identifies subsequent, currently unknown
flood related damage at such site, applicant is advised to contact the State of Colorado
Office of Emergency Management to report the damage and request an inspection prior
to its repair. In the event that the State validates the damage as a direct result of the
September 2013 flooding, the State will request FEMA prepare a version of this PW to
address the eligible cost of repair.
Proposed Revision to Scope Notes currently being
added to all Weld County Cat C PW's
These proposed revisions represent FEMA's effort to document a further understanding that while each
PW are indeed a category C road and bridge repair,that it is understood that additional permanent work
including 406 mitigation may be appropriate and would be evaluated upon request by Weld County.
Weld County did not concur.
Proposed Revisions to Scope Notes currently being added to all Weld County Cat
C PWs:
1. Following the September 2013 flooding, applicant used contract services and/or force
account resources to stabilize and re-open roads/bridges and repair damage as soon as
possible. Of the over 130 county-wide damage sites identified by applicant,At several a
number of damage sites, repairs appear to have been returned the facility to their its
pre-disaster design, function and capacity with no known remaining work to be
completed. However at several other sites due to the onset of winter conditions,
applicant was unable to complete the restoration, thus leaving permanent work and
possible 406 Mitigation opportunities vet to be completed. Finally, at some sites,
applicant has expressed concern that unanticipated work may-be still be required as a
result of conditions beyond their control, such as possible subsequent settlement
resulting from saturated soil conditions following the flood or where high water levels or
erosion, scour or/deposition prevented a complete damage assessment. As such
situations are identified, it is understood that the cost of additional permanent repairs,
including feasible 406 hazard mitigation opportunities will be submitted to and
considered by FEMA.
2. This PW addresses all validated flood related damages at the specified site(s) specified
site(s), including completed work and work to be completed (which damages were
known to the applicant and reported to FEMA by the effective date of this PW). It is
understood that there may be additional permanent work and 406 hazard mitigation
opportunities at the specified sites, which may be identifed after the winter period. In
the event that applicant identifies additional permanent work and 406 hazard mitigation
opportunities subsequent, currently unknown flood related damage at such site(s),
applicant is advised to contact the State of Colorado Office of Emergency Management
to report the damage and request an inspection prior to its repair. In the event that the
State validates the damage as a direct result of the September 2013 flooding, the State
will request FEMA prepare a version of this PW to address the eligible cost of repair.
The Applicant will notify FEMA and the State of their intent to perform permanent work
related to this site before any work commences in the field Failure to do so may
jeopardize the sub-grant for permanent work related to the work in this sub-grant:
Weld County letter dated March 12, 2014
OFFICE OF BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
PHONE: 970-336-7204
sugid k,„ FAX: 970-352-0242
1150 O STREET
CILOTY P.O. BOX 758
C O U N T GREELEY, COLORADO 80632
March 12, 2014
Bruce E. Holloman
Department of Public Safety
Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
Office of Emergency Management
9195 E Mineral Ave Suite 200
Centennial Co. 80112
Dear Mr. Holloman:
The Weld County Board of County Commissioners is unsatisfied with language provided by FEMA on
March 7, 2014, via email from Mark Spahr, FEMA PAC.
At meetings with FEMA representatives on February 27, 2014, and March 6, 2014, Weld County
affirmed that it had a number of factors and circumstances affecting the temporary recovery of
Infrastructure impacted by the flooding in Fall 2013 and that the County would require Category B
Project Worksheets (PWs) to be written. FEMA advised that they concurred with Weld County's
concerns and would review language, which would be included in Category C PW Project Notes,
therefore eliminating the need for Category B PWs. The County's concerns and proposed text for
the PWs were provided in a letter sent to FEMA from the Chairman of the Weld County Board of
County Commissioners dated March 5, 2014.
The language provided to FEMA was requested to be included in all PWs written for road and bridge
infrastructure,which was temporarily repaired during the emergency period.This language ensures
that Weld County can include scopes of work and cost estimates related to permanent work when
the information is received from the County's engineering firms.
FEMA's response to Weld County's letter was to provide an email attachment containing"revised"
paragraphs to be substituted for Weld County's. language. The FEMA response provided no
explanation for why the Weld County text was not acceptable.
The FEMA revision, excluded the following text from Weld County:
"The applicant initiated temporary emergency protective measures and emergency
repairs. These repairs were made to ensure that roads and bridges that had been
impassable or were impacted by flooding were open for public right of way as soon
as possible. It was not the intent of these emergency repairs to restore the road and
bridge facilities to a pre-disaster condition."
This text is important because it makes clear that Weld County has conducted repairs during the
emergency conditions immediately after the flooding in September,and that these repairs were not
intended to restore the roads and bridges to a pre-disaster condition, which explains, in part, why
permanent restoration activities must be determined at a later time.
FEMA RE: PROJECT WORKSHEETS MARCH 12, 2014 PAGE 2
The FEMA revision includes statements such as,"a number of sites", "several sites", and "some
sites". These statements do not explicitly refer to specific sites included in the Project Worksheet,
but could be referring to other PWs: It is arbitrary and capricious to render these statements in this
way, and Weld County believes that it deemphasizes the current state of damaged facilities and the
process that has been initiated to determine full restoration and improvements that will reduce risk
of future damage.
Therefore,Weld County maintains that language it has provided for the Project Notes section of the
PWs must be retained as previously submitted. The alternative to inclusion of this language is for all
work completed during the emergency period to be written in a Category B PW. Once the Weld
County engineering consultants complete their scopes and estimates then permanent work can be
captured in Category C PWs and submitted to the State of Colorado and FEMA.
Very truly yours,
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
/
C V'�" f'"J c
C 4r .a44v �
Douglas Rademacher, Chair
cc: Thomas McCoot
Roger Jones
Robert Nadeau
Kevin Kuretich
Jose Palacio
Mark Spahr
Hello