 Good afternoon everyone and thank you for being here and tuning in Today, we'll have our situational update from Commissioner Morrison here from General Roy from FEMA And get a transportation update from Secretary Flynn This weekend I spent time in Orleans County meeting with people who are impacted as well as Taking a look at the substantial damage to the Ethan Allen manufacturing facility and speaking with the town manager About the ripple effect the temporary closing will have on the region And the hundreds of employees and families I was also in berry johnson waterberry and montpelier Two weeks after the worst of the flooding it's clear in each community. I visit how much work we have ahead of us I also continue to be inspired by all those working on our response In recovery efforts, especially municipal and local officials Who will take on a ton of responsibility during emergencies like this Mr. Morrison will discuss how we continue to work with them And reiterate the seoc structure we have in place should cities and towns need more assistance and how to request it Yesterday I joined senator welch secretary tevitz Officials from the farming community and others for a tour of a farm in Essex So far we know of about 10,000 acres of farmland that has been impacted by the flooding The message we got yesterday That's so important for the producers to hear is reporter damage For structures and equipment use 211 But for your crops produce and livestock and I know this gets complicated It needs to go through the farm service agency fsa You can learn more in agriculture dot Vermont dot gov slash flood Senator welch made it very clear That we need to have firm numbers on losses in order to build our case in washington for additional help Much like the importance of meeting threshold for individual assistance in counties It's also important for senate secretary bill sack When determining whether the u.s department of agriculture grants my request for disaster declaration So again for our farmers and producers I know as you're dealing with all the stress from the floods The last thing you want to do is Is report things to the fsa But it's so important And could be the difference between whether or not congress provides financial assistance and grants to you and other farmers Lastly And I know you've heard this from me before but I need to stress it again For everyone Individuals and businesses of all kinds Please report just report your damage to 211 Either call 211 or even better Go to vermont 211.org to report your damage Even if your basement flooded and you've already taken care of it report it A few of our counties have not met the threshold for individual assistance And I know they need it So please help your neighbors and report your damage With that i'll turn it over to commissioner morrison Thank you governor. Good morning. Thank you for being here I will provide some information on ongoing state emergency operations center activities Also known as the seo c The seo c has been fully activated since july 9th the afternoon of july 9th The seo c serves as the coordinating umbrella for all partner resources Including the national guard FEMA the red cross 211 and more If you see one of those partners in your community You see the state of vermont in action It is through these partners and our constant coordination and communication that we are addressing needs on the ground Together with our partners our initial response and rescue phase resulted in 211 people and 20 animals rescued Plus 127 people evacuated by our urban search and rescue teams There were 74 hazardous material team responses in the early phase of the storm damage The seo c coordinated the opening of 14 state and local shelters ultimately serving over 100 displaced vermonters As we shifted to recovery efforts the seo c remained busy servicing requests for information and resources From our municipal partners A few examples of the type of assistance provided include Providing large shipments of bottled water to 31 towns Providing dehumidifiers and fans to 25 of our hardest-hit towns Providing PPE to municipalities and relief organizations Coordinating dam engineers to inspect municipally owned dams Providing geological engineers to assess slide dangers Connecting communities to drone services to survey damages Deploying rapid assessment teams to the field with plumbing electrical and structural inspectors Who have completed over 800 inspections in both public and private buildings to date Coordinating debris removal contracts that have so far hauled away over 228 tons and that is just those that are on the state contract We've addressed the loss of critical grocery stores by working with aot to increase transportation opportunities between hardwick and johnson To morrisville and by coordinating with shaw's corporate to establish grocery delivery in the Ludlow area We've addressed the loss of a local pharmacy in hardwick by coordinating with wallgreens to provide a mobile pharmacy These are just some of the ways the many ways that our seoc staff has problem solved to meet local needs If your community has new or ongoing needs, here is the process to get help from the seoc Community members should raise requests to local leadership who will aggregate and prioritize these requests The emergency management director or local emd for that community will contact the seoc to make a request for assistance This process is iterative as community needs are dynamic Local emd's can reach out to the seoc 24 hours a day seven days a week If your community is in need we want to hear from you Lastly, I want to reemphasize what the governor said about reporting damages to vermont 2 1 1.org Online reporting is preferred But call takers are standing by to take calls from those who cannot access a computer If your call goes to voicemail rest assured that it will be returned in a timely manner There is no backlog with 2 1 1 calls and there has not been since saturday evening With that I'll turn it over to general roe and I'll be available for questions afterwards Thank you, ma'am A major disaster declaration was declared on July 14th, which provided funding for emergency protective measures As well as assistance to individuals who have damages to their homes as a direct result of the storm Hazard mitigation across the state was also authorized FEMA currently has 450 personnel in the field including 14 teams disaster Survivor assistant teams going door to door across the state to assist residents and signing up for for Assistants from FEMA and answering their questions and encouraging residents to contact 2 1 1 We have established seven mobile registration centers across the state and the eight declared counties to help people sign up We have personnel in the state multi agency resource centers who consist residents and signing up for assistance And we have established two disaster recovery centers one in In ruttland and One in waterbury where people can go to sign up for assistance And also receive receive help if they're having trouble with their applications We've provided bottled water Uh for the state to distribute and are providing bulk water to communities who have a having water systems disrupted We are coordinating with other federal agencies to provide critical assessments to waste water treatment plants and hazardous material And we're supporting town halls by providing answers to residents about the FEMA programs As of today, we have visited over 6,000 homes and 330 businesses We've approved 4.2 million dollars in funding for residents impacted by the storm We've inspected over 1,000 homes for damages And we've provided rental assistance for over 350 people Residents who adds whose address is not currently in a deseretated area may still apply for assistance by calling the FEMA helpline at 1 800 621 3362 1 800 621 FEMA They're open from 7 a.m. To 11 p.m. Daily If you apply for assistance for FEMA But have not notified 201. Please do so This information will will help provide the state an overall understanding of the impact And assist in securing federal funding to not only restore the damages, but to help mitigate against future damages The deadline to apply for assistance for individuals is 12 september 2023 To apply for assistance you may contact you may visit disaster assistance.gov Download the FEMA app Or call FEMA's hotline as previously mentioned 1 800 621 3362 between the hours of 7 a.m. And 11 p.m So what's next? FEMA is here for the long haul While we are focusing on individuals right now. We're conducting assessments on the overall damages to infrastructure And we'll work with the state to apply for and assist with reimbursement for damages roads bridges culverts and facilities Additionally, we're working with the governor on establishing a long-term recovery for the state This won't be a short-term mission for FEMA. We're here for the long haul And i'll be followed by the secretary sir Thank you general roy And good morning I'll give an update on romance roads rails airports. Um, these are state roads state-owned rail State-owned airports the two state dams and also a brief on the current posture for the department of motor vehicles As I believe I said last week state road systems Are funded through the federal highway administration We are currently tallied at 35.2 million dollars In cost, but I assure you we are nowhere near over our effort state-owned rail The lines that are owned by the agency of transportation We are currently tallied at 62 million dollars in damage and recovery effort Seven roads remain closed Which is 12 miles They are us 302 in berry city And I want to point out that this is a class one town highway, which is a term that we use the closure is um Orchestrated by the city of berry in this case because of the local cleanup effort going on in that area And we continue to work with them to see if there's any Further assistance that aot can provide to get that closure opened sooner The work going on as I think you probably know in that area Is some minor pavement repair and muck and cleanup operations in that stretch of berry I-91 in hartford the I-91 northbound exit 10a ramp To I-89 southbound into the state of new hampshire That is closed has been for a while now due to slope stabilization concerns On the right hand side of the road as you're heading into new hampshire Vermont 131 in weathersfield at the junction of vermont 106 to cavendish And the junction of vermont 103 Multiple sites along that road have washed out Vermont 12 in montpelier. This also is a class one town highway The closure is controlled by the city of montpelier It is between berry street and school street And we will work in our with the city itself And if there's anything that aot can do to help that closure Come down quickly or as quickly as possible. We will do that Vermont 30 at bridge 42 in jamaica Between vermont 100 and amden road We will be installing a temporary bridge once that is in and the approaches are completed That road could be reopened, but I do not have a time on that just yet Vermont 110 which is a bridge bridge 12 in chelsea chelsea north of upper valley road Again, that needs a temporary bridge installed, which is part of the reason that route is closed And vermont 113 bridge 11 in versier. I think one of the first that I mentioned a few weeks ago Closed between darling hill and versier center road Again, a temporary bridge structure will be brought in for that 10 state roads remain partially open We did have to close one lane last night Of vermont 15 in johnson Due to a landslide Vermont 15 is open, but at that place in johnson. It is restricted to one lane The remainder of partially open roads are vermont us4 rather in hartford us vermont 125 in ripton Two locations on vermont 25 in ripton vermont 103 in cavendish vermont 107 in stockbridge us4 in bridge water vermont 12 in berlin As I mentioned vermont 15 in hardwick and vermont 110 in chelsea We did succeed in opening two roads in the last 24 hours vermont 100 in jamaica And i'm pleased to report vermont 100 in bridge water Which was the damage received on friday the 7th of july that the governor and I witnessed the day after That is open to one lane To date 129 roads have reopened since the storm began Uh, we currently have three bridges as I mentioned that need temporary structures. Um, they are versier chelsea and jamaica We have conducted 475 bridge inspections across the state of vermont both on state bridges and town bridges 46 were done yesterday 296 of these inspections produced what we call findings A finding means that we will have to go back at some point to do some follow-up work But that does not mean that the bridge is compromised or that it is unsafe The washington county railroad from montpellier junction to websterville The national contracting firm rj. Corman has over 50 employees working on that stretch of rail I'm pleased to tell you that as of 10 30 this morning an engine made it from montpellier junction to the roundabout by mickey ford There were some rail cars that have been stranded there and those are able to now Get out to the main line. We do not have a completion date From that location up through to Websterville so that 11 miles will remain out of service The green mountain railroad from bellis falls to ruttland I reported last week that we did have a win With 25 miles of that line opened from bellis falls to ludlow that is able to now serve the talk mill in ludlow vermont There were two landslides in chester on that line last night. So we are closely watching What the hillsides are doing but at this time they did not close that that road 27 miles, however of the green mountain do remain closed from ludlow to ruttland Today we have increased our contractor count by nine. We are working with 50 contractors across vermont. This is just aot We are actively working with 13 towns Just the other day we pushed out 6.9 million dollars in town highway grant funding That otherwise would not have gone out till october And we will look at future payments on an accelerated basis as well. Those are typically made quarterly I'd like to speak a moment about the posture at the department of motor vehicles Montpelier office remains closed to the public in all online services mail transactions And support for all of our business partners which include vermont dealerships vermont inspection stations agc commercial trucking industry and such Are being supported internally from the location on state street Including driver improvement functions hearings suspensions and reinstatements The dummhurston satellite office will remain closed through august to allow staff to support the other southern satellite offices The other physical locations for dmv Newport south burlington ruttland Springfield and bennington and white river Remain open to the public as scheduled You can find their hours of operation on the dmv website at dmv.vermont.gov We continue to encourage our residents to use the dmv online service for registration renewals license renewals and temporary registrations for purchases of all vehicles By using these tools you will receive a temporary document to support your transaction It's also important to remember that registration and license renewals have been extended for 60 days under the governor's emergency order This also includes Out of state registrations that otherwise would have had to transfer to vermont Lastly i'll say that Any mail that may have been at the montpellier post office the day of the flood Is not accessible It is undetermined how much if any mail for dmv was lost We believe this may be impacting from july 4th to july 10th All business partners are being contacted for that awareness And the impact on other customer mail and transactions Is undetermined at this time Thank you Thank you secretary and we'll now open up to questions governor for counties like or means county What is the threshold to for people to report to actually perceive that individual system? Yeah, again, it's a very I'll let general roye talk about this a little bit more but it really is a very complicated formula and some of it has to do with The number of people in the county and the poverty level and so forth and so on everything gets mixed in And then they determine whether we need the threshold or not So I don't think it's something that we can define from the podium or maybe not at all Thank you governor As the governor said it is a very complicated factor You know the first thing we were to look at is a number of homes that were destroyed And damaged whether they were Minor or major And then overall the other number of homes that were affected across the county And then as governor said, you know, what's the overall? Demographics for the popular for the county, you know, what's the poverty level? You know, one of the greatest challenges are the roads cut off They're impacting people's ability to go about the daily business So there are a number of factors that that female looks at and what's the concern there if A county like Orleans never makes that threshold. What does that mean for their recovery in the long term? Well, of course the direct result is is those individuals Are eligible for FEMA assistance And for the maximum grant that's available for FEMA Is 41,000 dollars based upon the damage that's the maximum amount you can get There's actually been six for monitors who have received that already And then it's everything from a couple hundred dollars for potential damages for renters, etc So that's that's, you know, that's the totality of it. And again, we encourage everybody To if you've applied for assistance from from FEMA also caught contact two and one can't emphasize that enough because it gives the state a totality Understanding of the damages and it may help it secure additional funding to help mitigate in the days ahead Can the information that you've seen so far is Orleans County close? So I can't speak to that We have teams from the region to do that assessment working closely with the state and locals And then the state and the region work together region out of Boston submit the package to To headquarters So I can't speak to that sir This might be a question for commissioner Do you have a total tally for the number of people who have been displaced from their homes throughout the duration? So that last part is very hard to calculate people who just went to to a friend a family or Went out of state and have not come back to their home We have some numbers. I want to make sure that we get you the most accurate numbers we have We are in the process of matching 211 data to to FEMA numbers that might reflect whether we're You know 211 and FEMA are are receiving the same amount of reports and the same Overall nature of what the report is So we will I'll do my best to get back to you on that Can you remind me jason? But I don't have a number off the top of my head and and clearly it's a very dynamic number Some people left in the initial Um evacuations or just out of an abundance of caution and are now coming back So Displaced in the beginning might not be long term displaced. It's a very dynamic number But we will do our best to put our arms around something quantifiable for you You're welcome With those displacements there's been vermonas across the state hesitant to report damages because they're worried about having to leave their homes Is there any form of long-term plan on housing people who say it's really unhealthy to them to be back from these places? So, yes, we are working on a long-term plan. We were let's be very clear We were working on the housing solution long term prior to the flood This was a known issue that the governor can speak more to or secretary samuelson can speak more to the flooding Just increased the number of people who are going to be in need of either short term or potentially long term Secure housing, so The short answer to your question is yes We are actively planning and there are no easy solutions for this situation in terms of homes that may become uninhabitable because of Mold or and something else that happens as a result of the flood That's going to be a dynamic number that might not we might not know the full extent of for Four to six eight weeks and those people will be rolled into the number that we're working with governor. Did you want to say more about that? Again reporting that the image to 211 is so important because the congressional delegation is working on a supplemental ask of congress to provide For amounts in excess of 41,000 dollars that the general roi had talked about so again, we are It's not lost on us that The challenge ahead and the number of people who are displaced And may never go back to where they lived previously So we are actively pursuing all avenues in order to provide for their relief Secretary fling i'm wondering. I just wanted to clarify you mentioned 35 million dollars Could you tell us what that number represents? Thank you that number represents The cost of the aot response to this point on state owned roads Which again our funding comes through the federal highway administration Not through fema so Not to confuse the subject We also own rail property Which is fema eligible So that was that other number that I gave you but the 35 million number is our current tally With the federal highway administration For the work that aot has been doing on all of the roads that i've been listing That have either been closed or partially closed So that doesn't necessarily represent what your estimated damage to the road system is In totality, that is correct. It does not represent that yet because we don't have that number yet because Our work is not over with And when secretary Which was here We could go yes Encourage state officials to apply for the infrastructure grants that I don't know if it would redesign some of the road projects, but try to mitigate future flood damage Right. I think the application deadline was in the middle of august or something like that. Is that something that you plan to take advantage of? Well, and I think some of that has to do with fema funding with respect to Building things back with more resiliency. I know we did that at tropical storm Irene especially with a lot of local Bridges, but even on the federal highway side so Our entire financial book of business comes through the highway trust fund it comes through the reauthorization Which we're in the middle of right now Which is the 2j a if you will it's a five-year tranche of money And so anything we're doing in typical project order We are trying to rebuild things In a better more resilient fashion And I think that's part of the reason why we didn't see as many bridges wiped out in this flood as we did in Irene So the answer would be yes. We will continue to look for every unique pocket of money There are grant programs through the u.s. Department of Transportation for bridges and culverts if you will which are separate and aside from our Expected funding stream through the fast act or the reauthorization and we apply for these on a routine basis We are very aggressive about applying for grants that are available And I just want to make sure everyone is clear on this 35 million dollars is just the initial response getting the roads back open for now That does not include permanent Replacement of bridges culverts and roadways and so forth and paving It's just our initial response to date So it's going to the magnitude of that it's going to be you know many times over by the time we're done Governor what is it maybe for the secretary to what is your message to promoters who might be frustrated by the inconvenience of having to take sometimes quite a long way to Yeah, I mean there may be some frustration there But put yourself in the in the place of someone who's displaced from their home still mucking out their home In the city of berry or in montelier Or their business It pales in comparison. So a little Inconvenience on the part of having to go around at least you can get around Some of these folks are are suffering a great loss And can't even get into their homes to stay the secretary actually just mentioned this or touched upon it But the work that we did during iran bridges culvert replacing all of those How much of a difference do you think that that may or was this a different type of a different dynamic? I'll let the secretary answer part of that but I can I know from experience Seeing some of the disaster areas I was one of the first to come into brandon as a matter of fact, I don't know if you remember But there was a pizza business Pizza building that was right in the middle of route seven So I had orchestrated with someone I knew in the industry That was able to get a crane in lift that out of the way because it was blocking the road Today that that culvert that went through there was undersized So with the with the transportation dollars and and the foresight That was upgraded and they didn't have the devastation the damage this time around that they did then So a lot of what we did after Irene helped and that's the hardening that's the mitigation measures That we need to continue to do so we talk a lot about climate change, right? I mean we want to we talk about Reducing our emissions carbon emissions and so forth And that's that's good work and that's something that we're focused on But it has to be combined with an equal effort on mitigation There's going to have to be buyouts. There's going to have to be replacement in in different using different different technology and different strategies So that we don't because we know we're going to flood again in certain areas But we can't just focus on just carbon emissions. We have to focus on mitigation You mentioned buyouts. Do you mean buying people out of their home? Yes Yeah, where are you in the thought process on that? Well, I mean we're two weeks into this right two weeks ago We had the flooding so first things first trying to Focus on the initial response, but we are having meetings Trying to determine what we do next and make sure that we're doing it for the right reasons But that's why it's so important To have these discussions with our congressional delegation Because fema is not going to be able to take care of this We're not going to be able to take care of this on our own We're going to need congressional help with a supplemental bill in order to to have You know move forward on some of these buyouts that we know are going to have to happen in the future But we want to build back. We want to build back better and smarter and make sure that we're you know Investing in our downtowns and so forth but doing it in a much different way Well, would you mind explaining a bit the theme of buyout process and how that works? That falls under our national flood insurance program And so each each community who participates in the national flood insurance program Works with the region in this case in bosson To assess the homes and see the the totality of the damage And if if the cost of of repairing a home Is more than just taking it down Then that's the decision that the community will make So it's really it's a community level decision. They established the prices associated with the properties And it's a collaborative effort So is it would owners get fair market value for their home or it's up to each community as to how they assess the values of the homes You know, if I could just ask add one thing on the mitigation discussion Um, we all remember 2017 pretty well some more than others Haven't been in headquarters Um, remember Harvey or Maria But if I said Nate how many people here will remember that Nate? Nate was a hurricane that came in Um into the a different area in Alabama that had been hit years before And because of the mitigation they had done by elevating homes Um by adjusting colors and so forth the the damages were were relatively minor And it was because it was a great example of the mitigation dollars being effective I think the estimate today is is for every dollar you invest in mitigation Right, you offset six dollars from impact from a disaster from a future disaster I'm currently working an older disaster older as in this last christmas for the christmas storms In which the utilities were hit pretty hard But we have great examples where the utilities had used mitigation to Help mitigate against future storms And in fact they did those lines that we mitigate mitigated on from previous disasters Held up this time. So as the governor has said, you know, we really need to look at how We rebuild and ensure that we are in a better place Vermont is stronger After the storm than it was prior to and I think that's the focus we have You mentioned the correlation between buyouts and the national flood insurance program Does an individual need to have flood insurance in order to be bought out of their home? You have to be participating in the flood insurance program, yes On an individual level Yes ma'am That is my understanding. I could be wrong. I'll get back to you if I am wrong That would take out the home parks. I imagine there are a lot of people in the flood play already And don't have flood insurance I can't speak to that sir at this point in time But we can't provide great information for you in the future Just just remember That's why I keep talking about the congressional work that's being done for a supplemental bill to assist in areas like that I think there are A number of buyouts that need to take place in different areas But we we're going to FEMA Under the present structure can't do that But that's why we need supplemental funding in order to accomplish that I want to have a secretary more comment further Thank you governor I just want to draw attention to the flood resilient communities fund Which is in a joint initiative of the agency of natural resources in the department of public safety That we've been advancing for the last two years now with some of the ARPA funds to fill gaps Where FEMA isn't able to to come in and offer relief to individual property owners We created a special fund using ARPA dollars to affect some of those buyouts and to to great success so far And happy to provide additional details on that program In addition, the the governor's budget included in Money we needed to access Pre-disaster pre-hazard mitigation dollars that were available to Vermont and fairly significant supply As a result of the way we accessed FEMA funding through the covid crisis And so taken together those two programs have given us tools We've never had in the past To to do this work and that is work. We've been actively engaged in for the last 24 or so months well in advance of this particular event In terms of the the buyout Price I'm sure part of the calculation. I would think would have to be the fact that Price is very much skyrocketed If you get below fair market value for the house that was destroyed, how are you supposed to find them? Right in in general that that's part of the flood resilient communities program as well Is trying to make sure people are being compensated at fair market value That's not to say that a home well outside of floodplain in flood hazard area may not have a higher value higher starting value Just on principal. Um, but at least allowing fair compensation for the the home the the resident is currently in Um, since uh, manufactured homes were brought up, is this state thinking about putting together a concentrated program to focus on Helping people in those communities. Like I think there was one after everything. Yeah It's something that I was part of as well And uh, yes, we are we are actively pursuing that. We don't want them to feel forgotten But we're trying to assess all the damage at this point and determine where we go from here. There is Through different levels. There is some FEMA funding available for short term replacement and so forth of those homes that we are actively Looking into and working with general Roy on that Governor as you know when it comes to the supplemental FEMA assistance working its way through congress, maybe as you know We are in a divided conference There's been political fights over FEMA funding in the past I'm thinking after Sandy. How confident are you or what's the concern there of You know the timeline that we face for some of this money to get through congress and whether we'll actually get there Yeah, you know, I think um Always concerned about the polarization in congress, um, but But these storms, um, they don't just affect blue states. They don't just affect red states. They affect all states And so I think I think there's a realization amongst Congress members of congress That it could be them next if it already hasn't been them. So I think there's a certain sensitivity to that But you're aware they there's a huge fight going down in congress primary on the Parkinson basis in the house Republicans and the senate democrats about a whole slew of funding belts Then this is just getting dumped In the middle of that enormous fight and there's some people down here down there who are saying we're not going to allocate additional money for disasters unless you cut somewhere else, I mean Do you really have confidence that this is a system can solve this? Yeah I don't I don't know if I have as much confidence as uh is as needed But I think there is a realization I want to take for instance. There's been Damage in northern new york I know Uh, represents the phonics is uh is looking into supplemental funding as well, right? so we have Senator schumer who represents the whole state So I imagine that they might want to get together We're we're having this damage in New Hampshire. I don't know how much But they may need some help as well. So when you regionalize this And cross-party lines I think anything is possible And I think that we've proven that time and time again where there was Senator grassley and senator lehi working together on many different initiatives to help one another out with the realization that again These storms don't don't just go to a red state or a blue state They hit them all and and and I think it could be whoever is being The obstacle their state could be next Would it be fair to say that you are absolutely depending on this congressional funding in order to make a recovery? Yeah, no, no, we are going to make recovery But we can make a better recovery if we have additional funding. So again FEMA has been very supportive of our efforts The u.s Secretary of transportation has been very supportive of our efforts There are pathways within the system now that will help us recover We will use well again will uncover Every opportunity for us with funding and so forth that we can release to provide flexibility Within state resources as well. So It's all hands on deck and and this would just help us Make a better recovery a fuller recovery if we have congressional help Governor, I'd like to talk about post offices and schools The Montpelier post office had the same warning as the rest of us about the flood coming Have you asked them? Have they told you why they couldn't keep the mail high and dry? I have not Okay The other question I have is How many schools do we have now that are so damaged that they may have to will be reopening in late August? Yeah, I think uh secretary boucher I think you had provided a couple of numbers for the six or seven schools that were heavily impacted state that have reported major damage and another 13 that have reported minor damage It's unclear one of those that we know that Has reported minor major damage, excuse me. We think we'll be Fine to open which is Montpelier high school from what we're hearing In the fall One of the elementary schools on our radar is perhaps not going to be ready to open But we're still trying to figure that out This week we're actually doing a much deeper dive now that some of the initial Recovery work at the schools has been under way to really get a sense of that. So We're pretty done with an initial scan of how the Schools across the state have been impacted and now we're trying to get a much better sense of Okay, and Is the impact going to effect the opening of school in Is there a list of the schools that are affected? Yes, and we can get that to you as we could last time. There's just been a few more updates There were some people living there all the degree in downtown Montpelier and downtown Barrie and I'm sure many other communities around the state wondering why it was taken so long To get the debris out of the downtown areas and one of the contractors suggested to us that This stuff is all about to go to come I don't know if that's true Is that true? Is this oh, yeah, we only have one man feel pretty much in the state So everything all the damage and debris is going to commentary and I think it gets It's a little bit more complicated than that because because some of the silt and affected soils and maybe Secretary more could answer some of that Needs to be segregated and trucked to a different location. I believe be aerated and so forth We have several different debris management Strategies that are being deployed the governor is correct though Coventry is our only landfill and to the extent there's material That needs to go to a landfill. That is where it has to go Contractors have been working to identify some staging areas where they can can drop the loads out of the big trucks That are being used in the downtown areas to collect debris Further sorted a little bit removing some of the the valuable Recyclable materials and then trucking the remains to Coventry We have been encouraging homeowners as they're cleaning out their basements to try to segregate household hazardous waste And electronic waste and are working with partners in the solid waste management entities to arrange Opportunities to collect those materials separately that we know we don't want to get mixed into that general trash stream In addition in locations where there are sediment and soils that have been impacted by petroleum products We have set up separate areas where those for those soils to be taken to So that they can be managed appropriately and reduce further environmental contamination So it really is a multifaceted approach And through the seo c there's a debris team that involves staff from the department of environmental conservation Along with other experts from the the hazardous spill or the hazmat team that have collectively put together this strategy Two people on the line will start with Chris Roy and Newport Daily Express Yes, good afternoon. I have no questions. Thank you And Tim McQuiston from on this magazine Nothing right now. Thank you All right, Sarah You brought up the supplemental appropriations bill from the Congress and we also mentioned Senator Lakey and the deal that he had such a legacy for really bringing home the bacon and I'm wondering If it's something that you think about now that he's not in office anymore. I've been thinking about that ever since he left us Governor you mentioned climate just a little bit ago I'm not sure if you've had a chance to see this morning yet But the Secretary of State put out a message this morning saying that not enough in the state has been done in terms of climate And mentioned that not enough climate legislation has been passed But you did mention building back with more resiliency In mind do you have any additional comments on that topic? I haven't seen the op-ed But but again, I believe climate change is real. I think that we need to Transition away from carbon emissions But we also have to have a balance here, right? I mean we need to make sure that we're resilient We mitigate this damage at the same time because regardless if we could Magically throw a switch and eliminate carbon from from society That wouldn't stop this storm from happening the storm next year the storm 10 years from now It's it's just something that's going to take some time for For the world to heal So we at the same time that we're doing that work And transitioning, you know with electric vehicles and heat pumps and so forth and upgrading our our grids and Electrical systems and so forth and so on It takes time and money and resources and and a workforce That can actually do the work So at the same time we're doing that We need really that resilience the hardening the mitigation steps in order to accomplish that Anything you want to add to that Governor also speaking of some of the congressional money, but also, um, I believe on thursday There's going to be a joint hearing how to send lawmakers talking about sort of where do we stand this flood? Does the legislature need to get involved? What do you expect or Will you be making or making plans for maybe grant funding or anything in your upcoming budget? I know it's it's early, but where where does the legislature? Yeah, I don't know and we'll be testifying As much as we can on on thursday and but we still have a lot of work to do with the recovery And these just say initial response. We're just we're still in the initial response phase and transitioning to recovery so We'll update them as best as we can and And then we'll have to see where we're at as we move forward. We have funding available now We're receiving help from FEMA And again transportation funds so We feel we're We're in good shape from a financial standpoint today But but we're going to need some help in the future With that funding we talked a lot about state roads. Is there any grant funding or loans? Maybe from the state available for people who live on private roads who are responsible for fixing those culverts Yeah, again, that would be over and above what FEMA covers And it doesn't qualify under public assistance either So that's one of those areas where We're going to we want you to report the damage So that we can get the magnitude of the the amount to give Our congressional delegation the tools they need to make the ask for what is it in totality? What is the damage in vermont and what's not covered? So that's why it's so important for people to keep reporting The damage they have and they suffer even if they know they won't qualify today Um, it makes the case for supplemental funding Is the state doing any absentee landlords? My colleague has been getting reports from tenants who's The alerts aren't picking up their phones or i'm coming to fix You know, really bad damage um I might ask if Mr. Hanford has any information on that is this is something I hadn't heard much about but It that that's a difficult uh answer to Question to answer directly what folks that are renters should do Is 211 report their damage and register with fema? Renters are eligible for fema assistance Their landlords to repair the property are eligible for sba loans So it's a difficult situation for a renter that is in a damaged apartment But the fact Is that their property owner their landlord will need to fix that And the renter is eligible for rental assistance to find temporary housing While the landlord fixes the property The landlord is eligible for an sba loan to fix the property at this point. So I heard a comment earlier about folks being afraid to report damages That shouldn't be the case fema is not Um condemning and kicking people out of of damaged properties But the renters that are affected need to report their damage and get fema assistance To help support their temporary housing needs in the short term While repairs can take place sir as well if you have names if anyone has names of Of these absentee landlords, um, please get them to us And we'll do everything we can to make contact I think that's importantly through public safety and otherwise As far as commissioner why have you as far as reporting damages to fema If it's structural damage to the building the landlord owns then you shouldn't that be the landlord's burden to bear To coordinate with fema that's a really big cost of some of this No, I think it's it's I think what Commissioner hamford is talking about is personal belongings anything that they might have lost within in the home themselves Not the building Right exactly that the renter is eligible for fema assistance for temporary rental assistance to find A place to live temporarily the landlord's responsible for fixing it. Um Under the process and the funding that exists now that landlord Goes to sba to get a loan. So some of these landlords have also lost their property and their livelihood um, and and so fema looks at individual assistance for homeowners and for renters in two different ways A rental property is a business and and will be eligible for sba loans Time for every one or two more Governor, it was announced I guess last week maybe that there'd be 20 ish million dollars in grants for businesses through accd Do you know when we might get one? We're hoping thursday You mentioned uh license suspension Hearing so those are still happening. Correct. Yes. What if someone can't get to get physically get to their I would recommend to contact the dmv and try to get through to the hearing officer To at least describe what their situation is Is there an estimate when dmv and monterey is going to be back up and operating for this public? Um, I couldn't give you that right now, but I don't think it's going to be that long I think some of it has to do with The overall citywide recovery work that's still occurring on state street and you know directing Thousands, I mean literally dmv downtown at 120 Can see two to three thousand people on a given week for traffic So I think some of that is keeping in mind. What's also happening downtown right at the moment Yeah, any transactions I found myself When I had to register a number of motorcycles over the last couple of weeks Um, I went online to do it. I hadn't done that before but it's very easy to do if I can do it Anyone can do it Thank you all very much