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A NEW ADMINISTRATOR for the National Flood Insurance Program for Lawrence County was designated by the Lawrence County Board on Wednesday, June 17. Chris Winkles (standing at right) spoke to the crowd which was mostly comprised of residents opposing inclusion in the NFIP. (Photo by Barbara E. Allender)
County stagnates with split vote on NFIP, elects new NFIP administrator  Share
The Lawrence County Board made their monthly effort on Wednesday, June 17 to revisit the county's inclusion in the National Flood Insurance Program. Before a full courtroom, featuring several individuals presenting pros and cons of the NFIP, the board finally came to a vote. After months of criticism and deliberation since the June flood of 2008 and the vote to become a part of the NFIP, County Board member Pat Spidel made the motion to withdraw from the NFIP. Gene Hayes seconded the motion which ended in a tied vote with Spidel, Hayes and Jake Middagh casting 'yes' votes and Larry Stoltz, Kerry Emmons and Ryan Curtis casting 'no' votes. While the deciding vote weighed on the shoulders of Chairman Charlie Gillespie, he said, ''at this time, I'm not voting.'' He said, ''this issue is not over. I do want to applaud you for presentations you made.'' Another related matter that was put into action was a 4-2 vote for a new NFIP administrator. Chris Winkles, an employee with the Supervisor of Assessments office, was elected to serve in the position with Curtis' motion, Emmons' second, and a 4-2 vote, approved by Middagh and Stoltz, as well. The Board had released local Co-NFIP administrators, Julie Benson and Norm Kocher from their duties at the May meeting. Benson addressed the board with statistics on the number of insurance policies that were in place in other counties, compared to those in Lawrence County. ''We're not like the other counties,'' she said. Since January 31, there are 20 policies that have been issued to Lawrence Countians. According to Benson, Casey State Bank sent out 75 notices to those who have loans there and live in the ''flood plain.'' Each insurance policy here averages $659 per year. In other counties, such as Cumberland County, there are three policies averaging $313 per year. Dennis Green who represented the Farm Bureua said that a total of 1,393 buildings and homes would be affected by insurance premiums.
Business owner Bobby Klein cited three ''mistakes'' that the county had made which he listed as: 1) paying attention to FEMA, 2) voting in the NFIP, and 3) Voting to keep the NFIP in, causing the county to ''crash and burn.'' Terry Patrick countered the idea that the NFIP was not advantageous to the county in saying, ''the county's first mistake was not getting in the NFIP many, many years ago.'' According to Patrick, if the county would get out of the NFIP, it could be held responsible to which James Meyer responded, ''I don't believe the county can be held responsible for an act of nature.'' Others addressing the Board prior to the vote included Jon Rink who represented the Gehrhart family, longtime residents of the designated flood zone. ''I see nothing that's going to come of FEMA that's going to be a big help.'' In a threatening letter that Ryan Curtis read from the Springfield office of Paul Osmon, it stated that if the county would drop from the NFIP, state grants would be non-accessible, as well as funding for such groups as military veterans, small businesses, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Emergency Management Agency, Department of Commerce, and Department of Transportation. Board members responded to the letter as Hays questioned, ''is it a bigger threat staying in or staying out? Emmons commented, ''there is a lot of conflicting information. We need to sort this information out and have an NFIP manager that can communicate with FEMA, come back to us, give us this information and let us make our decision.'' Alan Thompson voiced concerns that Lawrence Countians would move away, leaving a tax burden on those remaining. He recollected the circumstances of the flood when levees broke. He warned his neighbors and said, ''at 6 a.m. when we left, we heard the water coming behind us. I helped my neighbors - not because I was asked, but because it was the thing to do.'' In other business, the Board: - approved an engineering agreement for bridge inspections, low bid fuel costs from Wabash Valley Service, Pinkstaff bridge repairs with a bid of $214,607 from Allendale Gravel, prevailing wages and reappointment of Richard Trowbridge as county road engineer. - approved a donation of $4,000 to the Southeastern Illinois Tourism Bureau. - appointed Becky Nestleroad to the hospital board for a term of three years. - approved a resolution to pay $7,000 for the Appellate Prosecutor Program. - appointed Kelly, Shinkle and Waggoner to the health department board. - appointed Tracy Ready to the 708 board, a division of the health department. - approved the display of fireworks by the American Legion of Vincennes on the Illinois side (Lawrence County) of the Wabash River. - voted to approve the Fraternal Order of Police contract. The Lawrence County Courthouse and Annex will be closed Friday, July 3 for the Fourth of July holiday. The next meeting of the County Board is at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 15. Barbara E. Allender is editor of the Bridgeport Leader.
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