Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Lack Of Quorum Slows Emmet Council

For lack of a quorum no action could be taken at the Emmet City Council meeting Wednesday, April 11.

Emmet Mayor Dale Booker told the two who were there of things needing to be done, but, without a quorum, funds couldn't be appropriated.

Booker said the council needs to appropriate more money to finish the cleanup work from the storm damage in December 2000.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), he said, has made one payment to the city for $29,000, though the total cost of getting rid of all the debris will be in the vicinity of $70,000.

FEMA's deadline for getting all the work done in those areas declared disasters is April 27 for 100 percent federal funding. After this date, the reimbursement formula reverts to the 75-25 FEMA began with.

The council had previously appropriated $45,000 for the cleanup project. Booker said the city has billed FEMA for $60,000, but it could take another $10,000 to remove the damaged limbs from trees.

Work on getting rid of the broken limbs has already began, he said, starting in the city park. This was done so those who wanted to have any type of Easter celebration could do so without worrying about limbs falling on them.

Booker said the council also needs to discuss street work and appropriate funds for it.

Otherwise, he updated the two on hand of what has been going on, and there wasn't much.

The water project, he said, is now finished, as the paperwork has been filled out and sent to the Rural Development Agency (RDA)  formerly known as the Farmer's Home Administration.

Final numbers, he said, show Emmet will have about $6,000 coming back. This money can be used to help build a fence around the city's new well.

The council had previously appropriated funds to build a fence, but the money coming from the RDA can be used instead, and this is what Booker told the council he wanted to do.

Putting the fence up, he said, will run about $6,000.

But, because no quorum was present, a special meeting will need to be called later this month so the appropriations can be made for the street and cleanup projects.