Westlock County will get some money from the province to help cover $1 million in repair costs from the April 2018 floods that washed out local roads and bridges.
At their March 12 meeting councillors voted 7-0 to receive a letter from Municipal Affairs announcing the approval of the funding.
Administration will now prepare documentation to the Disaster Recovery Program office to process the county’s claim.
“This is very good news for the county,” said reeve Lou Hall. “It’s a huge relief and it was great to hear that.”
Noting the process has changed considerably since the last time he had dealt with DRP funding, chief administrative officer Leo Ludwig said he was getting up to speed with the new rules.
“A team has been assigned to our file from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency,” he said.
“We’ve got a binder full of paperwork to do, but it’s very good news for the county.”
“There’s quite a mosaic in terms of different types of funding, some of it is full funding and some of it is 50 per cent funding.”
Ludwig noted they’ll factor these dollars into their budget review meetings in April, but noted they expect to be reimbursed on repairs to a certain extent.
“We’ll have a bit better idea in April of the funding amount. We still won’t have it completely nailed down, because it’s subject to actual costing,” he said.
“Some of the stuff that needs to be fixed yet, we don’t have true costs for. But some of the stuff we’ve already fixed we do have costs for because we’ve already done the work.”
The province is also assigning a case manager for private claims, though Ludwig noted that process is still in the early stages and he expects more information in the coming days.
He noted the government is treading carefully because of the upcoming provincial election and do not want to be seen as buying votes.
“They are in what they call their ‘red season.’ They have to be very careful there is no appearance that there’s any sort of influence happening with funding formulas and announcements.
“Once we have more details how private citizens and companies can reach out to the AEMA and initiate their own damage claims, we will post a notice on our website.”
He added residents will need to contact the DRP office directly, noting they have an online portal to allow residents to apply.
“The DRP program is run by the AEMA,” he said. “They make all the decisions whether you’re eligible for funding and how much. The county has no authority or say in that process.”
Council declared a state of local emergency April 23, 2018 after a rapid snow melt lead to widespread flooding. At least three bridges and 21 roads were closed due to washed out culverts.
The municipality had previously applied for the funding, but was denied as Municipal Affairs said the flood did not fit its one-in-a-50-year-event criteria. The county appealed the decision Oct. 18.
