By Ronald Hawkins, Reporter-Times
rhawkins@reporter-times.com
MARTINSVILLE - Morgan County has been awarded a $3,029,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency flood remediation grant, according to Morgan County Plan Commission Director Kenny Hale.
Added to the $2.98 million Martinsville will be receiving for flood assistance, the grant means $6 million in FEMA funds have been awarded in the county for the purchase of homes destroyed by the June 2008 flood.
Hale said on Monday that the awarding of the grant to the county will enable it to buy more than 20 structures, with six that could be added to the list if there is money left over. The county has to provide a $1 million match that will be funded by a state Community Development Block Grant Program.
A ceremonial issuance of the FEMA check will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Lucille Sadler Room of the Morgan County Administration, 180 S. Main St., Martinsville.
"This means we'll finally be able to buy those homes," Hale said. "I'm tickled pink, believe me, and so are the property owners."
The next step will be the signing of an agreement with state Homeland Security and the county, said Hale and Mary Moran, Homeland Security program response and recovery director.
"Local officials and county officials did an excellent job preparing their grant applications," Moran said.
The county's application was submitted in late November 2008.
With the grant approved, the county will get appraisals and complete title work on the properties and then close deals with the property owners.
After the properties are acquired, the homes will be demolished. No buildings may be constructed on the sites.
Martinsville closed its first purchase on Friday. Mayor Phil Deckard said he hoped eight more would be completed this year, leaving 24 deals to be completed next year.
Moran said she wishes the process could have moved faster, but added that Martinsville and the county's grant applications moved much faster than most. Property owners were told that the process could take up to three years to complete.
In addition to the FEMA acquisition, the Indiana Department of Transportation has been in negotiations to buy 50 homes along the planned Interstate 69 route that were affected by the June 2008 floods, Cher Goodwin, INDOT's I-69 spokesman, said in November. The state has acquired 23 of those homes and is continuing its negotiations with the owners of 27 other properties, she said.