A five-member committee was appointed Tuesday by the Commissioners Court during a workshop to deal with Orange County’s recovery from Tropical Storm Harvey. The committee is based on the comprehensive hazard mitigation action plan that was adopted by the county in 2016.
The long-term recovery and hazard mitigation committee will include Road and Bridge Engineer Clark Slacum, Code Enforcement Officer Joel Ardoin, Emergency Management Coordinator Ralph Valenciano, and Commissioners Barry Burton and John Gothia. County Judge Brint Carlton provided the function of the committee is to look at what damages and flooding was caused by Harvey followed by what issues the county had in the storm. Carlton added, “To identify what action items there are from the plan, also identify what the cost would be to do any of those options, and then obviously what funding is available to participate.”
Valenciano requested the committee be created and suggested appointing each of the members to it. He suggested the committee work for three weeks before presenting its first report to the Commissioners Court. Carlton will serve as an ex-officio member of the committee.
The Commissioners Court heard from volunteers who are working to rebuild the county following Harvey. Nicole Matthews works with the Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS) which is a state agency assisting home owners rehabilitate their residences. It is a not for profit group currently working with the county’s Michelle Tubbeville to get applicants and to eventually find five homes in Orange County they can help rebuild in the first thirty days. IBTS can spend up to a hundred thousand dollars to rebuild a home if it is a complete reconstruction.
Texas Baptist Men have been in Orange County almost since the day of the storm. They are being housed at the old navy base in Orange. Dwayne Carter is with Texas Baptist Men and informed the Commissioners that they have had 29 different work teams in this area made up of 357 working volunteers that have done 14,760 man-hours since the first week of January helping the county recover.
Tubbleville also shared that she received word Tuesday that the Tri-County Disaster Rebuild SETX received a check for $250,000 from the Center of Disaster Philanthropy which will help with post Harvey recovery. The money is an example of the grant and other donations Tubbleville has been working to get for the county since her appointment as the Special Projects Coordinator.
Jessica Hill of the Orange County Economic Development Corporation met briefly with the Commissioners Court to provide an update on a tax incentive program for a business prospect in the county. Last week Hill and the Commissioners met with Mark Viator of Jefferson Energy Terminal located in western Orange County. No action was taken last week or Tuesday of this week, but both Carlton and Hill confirmed there could be an agreement reached at next week’s Commissioners Court meeting.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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