Cassville city council considers Army Corp of
Engineers flood assessment
July 1, 2020
Caden Sweaingen & Sheila Harris
Jaysson Funkhouser, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), attended the June 8 meeting of the Cassville City Council to present a USACE proposal for assessing flood control options for Cassville.
According to Cassville Public Works director, David Brock, Cassville has been chosen as a prospective site for the assessment based on an application made in 2019, along with written letters of recommendation by Senator Roy Blunt and Representative Billy Long.
This is the second time Cassville has applied for the federal program, and the first time they’ve been accepted.
“If we decide to move forward with it, it will be a two-phase project,” Brock said.
“Phase 1 would be an assessment, which would involve a 50/50 cost split with USACE,” he said. “Phase 2 would be the actual construction of projects based on recommendations made in Phase 1. The cost for the second part would be split 65/35, with FEMA bearing the majority of the cost.
“The cost for Phase 1 isn’t cheap,” Brock said. “Even with the 50/50 split with USACE, our part of the program would be $330,000. Some of our parks and storm waters sales tax could be used for that purpose, but before we could even look at scheduling a Phase 1 assessment - which would include looking at structural and non-structural ways to improve flood control - the city needs more information on the requirement to enroll in the Federal Flood Insurance Program. The insurance program will entail a lot of work of its own, including utilizing a Regional Planning Grant through the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments, then assessing how many structures lie within the flood plain and what value could be placed upon them.”
According to Brock, structures built before 1974 (the year Cassville last had a flood map drawn up for insurance purposes) could be grandfathered into the new assessment.
“When you consider,” Brock said, “that most of our downtown businesses lie within an area that can flood, you get a good feel for how large of a project creating a flood insurance map would be.
“On the plus side,” he continued, “if we move forward with the insurance plan, residents would all be eligible for subsidized flood insurance on their homes.”
“For now,” Brock said “everything is still in the idea stage, although this offer from USACE won’t be on the table forever, so we’ll have to make some kind of decision.”
Jaysson Funkhouser, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), attended the June 8 meeting of the Cassville City Council to present a USACE proposal for assessing flood control options for Cassville.
According to Cassville Public Works director, David Brock, Cassville has been chosen as a prospective site for the assessment based on an application made in 2019, along with written letters of recommendation by Senator Roy Blunt and Representative Billy Long.
This is the second time Cassville has applied for the federal program, and the first time they’ve been accepted.
“If we decide to move forward with it, it will be a two-phase project,” Brock said.
“Phase 1 would be an assessment, which would involve a 50/50 cost split with USACE,” he said. “Phase 2 would be the actual construction of projects based on recommendations made in Phase 1. The cost for the second part would be split 65/35, with FEMA bearing the majority of the cost.
“The cost for Phase 1 isn’t cheap,” Brock said. “Even with the 50/50 split with USACE, our part of the program would be $330,000. Some of our parks and storm waters sales tax could be used for that purpose, but before we could even look at scheduling a Phase 1 assessment - which would include looking at structural and non-structural ways to improve flood control - the city needs more information on the requirement to enroll in the Federal Flood Insurance Program. The insurance program will entail a lot of work of its own, including utilizing a Regional Planning Grant through the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments, then assessing how many structures lie within the flood plain and what value could be placed upon them.”
According to Brock, structures built before 1974 (the year Cassville last had a flood map drawn up for insurance purposes) could be grandfathered into the new assessment.
“When you consider,” Brock said, “that most of our downtown businesses lie within an area that can flood, you get a good feel for how large of a project creating a flood insurance map would be.
“On the plus side,” he continued, “if we move forward with the insurance plan, residents would all be eligible for subsidized flood insurance on their homes.”
“For now,” Brock said “everything is still in the idea stage, although this offer from USACE won’t be on the table forever, so we’ll have to make some kind of decision.”
