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USDA-RD in Greensburg does everyday work and then someBy Larry Dreiling Monday, May 7 may have been the first work day since the Friday, May 4, tornado that leveled Greensburg, Kan., but to Chuck Banks, state director of U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development and his staff, it was any other day, only more so. That's because USDA-RD already had programs in place to assist with replacement and repair of affordable housing, as well as assistance with redevelopment of the business and community infrastructure sectors. "I've seen enough tornadoes before, but I've never seen so much devastation before," Banks said. "Pictures don't tell the story. You not only have to look at it for yourself but hear it and smell it. You also have to visit with the people. I made the commitment to the people there that Rural Development would be there every day for them. A different disaster "Our staff also visited with the FEMA long-term recovery team that came in from Washington. We basically told them the recovery effort in a rural area is very, very different than the type of effort they may normally work in an urban area." As a result of that meeting FEMA and USDA-RD signed a memorandum of understanding in the mission assignment for the recovery effort. "I have to complement FEMA, because they stepped up and realized there were other agencies who were well-suited to help in the recovery of a rural area and that includes USDA," Banks said. "We are real pleased to be a part of that partnership." A good example of the partnership, Banks said, occurred immediately after FEMA's formal disaster designation for 24 Kansas counties affected by that weekend's storms, including the Greenburg tornado. The disaster declaration allowed USDA-RD to offer expanded housing options to eligible residents. Money was already available to assist Greensburg in many ways through USDA-RD's ongoing programs. But when disaster struck, Congress and the White House worked to deliver additional $40 million in supplemental budget authority. "We've been working up a wide range of projects from that $40 million in budget authority for supplemental funding," Banks said. "We submitted a proposal to the Office of Management and Budget through the USDA Secretary's Office in Washington and they apportioned about $16 million of that money for USDA Rural Development to date," Banks said. Housing funding To begin with, Kansas USDA-RD already received $1 million to assist the City of Greensburg and other public bodies in the area in planning for a "new and improved" Greensburg. Also, $4.9 million in housing funding has been apportioned for new construction as well as repairs of homes that remain inhabitable. "That sum can actually support somewhere between $35 million to $40 million in USDA Rural Development housing financing. Some of it is grant money and some is loan money," Banks said. "We can stretch those loan dollars to more than just that $4.9 million. This can support single-family homes that can go for as low as one percent interest rate. Whether they were already homeowners or previously renting a home, this can be an opportunity for people to build a home, build equity and get ahead in life." Business funding In essence, the Greensburg tornado created a "clean sheet" for new business ventures mixing with old ones, which is why USDA-RD is active in the business redevelopment sector, working with City of Greensburg and Kiowa County officials on the construction of a business incubator building to be constructed in downtown Greensburg. "We are looking at a $2 million facility on Main Street that will likely be divided between 12 sections so businesses can get their feet back on the ground again," Banks said. "We'll graduate them out and move new business in. It will be a good way to jump start these businesses as they do their recovery." "The city is looking at building a business park. We're excited about that. It could be another $2 million in site acquisition and infrastructure to build this operation to support business redevelopment." Another project is a possible countywide wireless Internet system using Wi-Fi or even more up-to-date Wi-Max technology to help support business sector recovery. "This is one of the assets that a rural community has to have, to be properly connected to the Internet," Banks said. "We'll be sitting down with officials at the Huck Boyd Institute at Kansas State University in the near future to explore those avenues." Banks said he along with community leaders is seeking lots of ideas in order to make a new Greensburg better. One way to do that was via a tour of eastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi and into Tennessee to see areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. "One of the ideas that came out of that trip was development of a farmer's market facility," Banks said. "We are looking at working with the city or county on an application for funding on a project like that. There's a wide range of business redevelopment projects to work on the entire community recovery." Community funding In the area of community redevelopment projects, USDA-RD already put into place the funding to rebuild Greensburg's water tower. To bring improved water service took some creativity and community perseverance. "Greenburg had only a 55,000-gallon water tower. FEMA could only fund a project that was of the size and scope of the item on the day of the disaster," Banks said. "The City recognized they needed a 100,000-gallon water tower. We worked with FEMA on acquiring a new tower in the original 55,000-gallon size. Then Rural Development worked with several partners to fund the balance of the water tower to get it up to that 100,000-gallon capacity." The final tab for the new water tower is $676,000, consisting of $252,750 in FEMA funding; a $170,000 USDA-RD grant; $112,000 in insurance proceeds; a $57,000 City contribution; $50,550 from Kansas Emergency Funds, and $33,700 in Kansas Department of Emergency Management funds. "The City's contribution was made possible by funds donated by a host of organizations, including Rotary International, the South Central Community Foundation, and from funds donated by Kansas cities and rural water districts from across the state thru the Kansas Rural Water Association," Banks said. "The next things to do will be funding to help them rebuild their city hall and helping the county with the recovery of the courthouse. There will be dozens of projects we will be working on." Contingency funding With that, some surprises may be ahead, so not all of the $40 million in budget authority will be spent right away. "There's still $10 million out there of my requested budget authority OMB has not apportioned," Banks said. "The recovery effort is fluid and ongoing. If different resources come up to assist, such as if a non-profit organization or the private sector is willing to assist in a project, I want to save that money back for something that no one else can fund. "That $10 million is being kept in a contingency fund for the recovery effort if we have some funding gaps emerge we'll have some funds available. I want to compliment OMB because they've worked with us to give us that flexibility to allow us to keep that contingency fund." When budget authority is combined with funds taken from normal USDA-RD channels, Banks said the amount of assistance could be substantial. "We might be looking at as much as $50 million in assistance if all the funding is utilized," Banks said. "This is going to be a long-term effort. It's going to be a team effort. Wherever we can leverage money with Rural Development we will so we can get as much help to this community as we can." "The thing is we didn't create any new models here with these projects, other than we received supplemental funding. This is the kind of work we do every day in communities all over the state. It's those projects, like building nursing homes and cotton gins, that don't get as much attention." Larry Dreiling can be reached by phone at 785-628-1117 or by e-mail at ldreiling@aol.com. 12/3/07 Date: 11/19/07 Advertisement
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