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COLUMBUS—At the Polk County Board of Commissioners meeting held Monday, October 21, the board heard updates on the ongoing disaster relief efforts underway after Tropical Storme Helene

North Carolina Speaker of the House Tim Moore was in town as part of the ongoing disaster relief effort and was nominated to speak in place of Dave Odom of Odom Engineering, who was scheduled to give an update on Lake Adger Dam but couldn’t attend. The NC House will return to session Thursday to work on a new relief package. 

The past relief packages were passed unanimously, and Moore is confident the new legislation will also pass. 

“I’m very pleased with what we’re doing; it’s been both Senate and House, bipartisan,” Moore said. “I’m going to make a wager: the cost of Helene will be more than the cost of Katrina.”  

Moore said he was in Swannanoa earlier that day and praised DOT officials working on road reconstruction. He also praised the citizens’ response to the disaster.

“Coming out of a tragedy like this, the one bright spot is seeing friends and neighbors getting together to help everyone out. And Polk County should be very proud of the response it’s seen in this community.” 

Speaker Moore took one question from the commissioners on the possibility of federal funds for damaged private roads and driveways. 

“The jury is still out on that,” he said. “Our plan is to move forward with that, but we’re just making sure we’re crossing our t’s and dotting i’s.”

The board also heard a storm recovery update from Polk County Emergency Management Director Bobby Arledge.

“Polk County is right in the middle of updating our hazard mitigation plan, as we’ve done every five years,” Arledge said. “As of right now, there have been 3,062 citizens of Polk County that have applied for FEMA assistance so far.”

The county is organizing requests to repair private roads and driveways as part of its ongoing effort to clean up the county. Currently, the situation is awaiting the resolution of contracts between the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA. The county’s role is strictly advisory, with Arledge commenting, “We’re still working through some stuff with Army Corp, the state, and FEMA to make sure the wording in the contracts fits our specific needs for the county.”

The current projection on the contract trajectory will see the Army Corp of Engineers and FEMA assume all costs for these repairs, passing no cost onto the county. 

“This is the best option moving forward,” Arledge said.

Arledge said they are still working on the disaster recovery center and hope to announce its opening soon. Until then, the disaster survivor assistance center at the Polk County Library will remain open. The county emergency operations center is still open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, on the ground floor of the Womack Building. 

The meeting approved a budget amendment for a “Disaster Relief Department Budget Transfer” of $272,000 to cover salaries, overtime, and other costs incurred due to the county’s emergency operations.