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FEMA, SBA address monthly luncheon crowd
  
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By MIKE GEORGE
mgeorge@hcnonline.com
The monthly Dayton Chamber of Commerce/Team City luncheon held on Tuesday, Oct. 7 was not only interesting but very timely with representatives from both FEMA and the Small Business Administration (SBA) on hand to provide a more detailed look in how the two organizations have been responding to Hurricane Ike and its aftermath.
Addressing the crowd was FEMA’s John Boyatt, Carl Sherrill of the SBA, and Roger Faris of FEMA, who spoke about mitigation. This was a larger than normal crowd with visitors from Cleveland and other parts of the county in attendance.
Boyatt took the microphone first and explained, among other things, the process by which FEMA becomes involved in something like Ike.
“You have a big wind,” began Boyatt, “the county takes a survey, and they take that survey and present it to the governor. The governor then presents that to the president and the president makes the decision as to whether to declare a disaster, or not.”
The FEMA spokesman then described what his organization does when that disaster has been declared.
“There are several things that FEMA does,” Boyatt stated. “They are the emergency assistance, individual and household programs, disaster unemployment assistance, crisis counseling programs and disaster legal services. Now, those legal services are put on by young lawyers and associations and they come and donate their time at our Disaster Recovery Center (DRC).”
Boyatt went on to describe emergency assistance as the most important part and explained to the crowd that the initial step, the very first thing that had to be done before anything else was getting registered with FEMA. This can be done, according to Boyatt, though the website at www.fema.gov or by phone at 1-800-621 FEMA (3362). Another number provided by Boyatt is the one for the hearing impaired which is 1-800-462-7585. Application can also be made at the DRC.
“The object, from FEMA’s viewpoint, is to make you safe, secure and sanitary,” said Boyatt. “You can expect to return to where you were at the beginning of the storm. The other thing that is primary is your primary residence. The primary residence is the only thing FEMA will cover.”
The spokesman then described the processing of applicants and that once all that was done, applicants are then sent to the SBA to see about a loan.
“We tell people that if you get a loan or deny a loan, you are not eligible for FEMA help,” explained Boyatt. “However, if you are declined then you can come back to FEMA for help. Now that help is in the sum of, and I’m sorry to say it’s not very much, it’s $30,300, and that just went up two or three days ago.”
Following additional comments from Boyatt, including the statement that FEMA won’t even talk to you until all insurance claims you may have are exhausted, Carl Sherrill, who has worked for the SBA for four years, took over. He first spoke to non-profit organizations and businesses that were affected by the storm, and then addressed individuals.
“By the time this disaster, as is typical with other disasters, probably 40 to 50 percent of the funds that are made available for recovery will come from the US Small Business Administration,” stated Sherrill. “If you are a small business or a non-profit organization, we encourage you to register with FEMA and in the space where it calls for an individual’s name, just put your business name in there.”
The SBA spokesman then reported that the funds available to help businesses recover are different than normal SBA loans in that rather than guaranteeing a loan through a local bank, these loan proceeds come directly from the US Treasury and not through the typical banking organization.
“The first question anyone looking at an application is how much do I need to borrow,” stated Sherrill. “You do not need to know that. The amount that you are going to need to borrow is going to be determined by the loss verifier that we’re going to send to your place of business or to the place that was damaged. They are going to look at what it will take to put you back to where you were on Sept. 11, the day before the disaster. And those funds that we consider loaning to you can include any repairs necessary to meet code requirements as well as up to 20 percent of the damage, can include funds for mitigation.”
That, plus what it is going to cost to stay in business in the way of meeting mortgage and vendor obligations as well as payroll for key employees until things return to normal. All this goes in to figure how much the loan will be.
“The second thing is that you don’t need to have your insurance settled before you complete your SBA application,” stated Sherrill. “Neither FEMA or SBA is allowed to duplicate benefits. FEMA’s funds are grants and because they are grants, FEMA wants you to have your insurance settled before they give that grant money to you because they have no way of recovering those funds if later you get an insurance settlement. With SBA, you do not need to have your insurance settled because we can take an assignment of the insurance proceeds, go ahead and loan you the funds so you can begin the recovery, and then whenever your insurance is resolved, we can use those funds to reduce the loan amount.”
Sherrill then described that although SBA’s goal for funding is 21 days from when the application is completed, that for businesses the average expanse of time before funding is averaging within 10 days. He also said that the amount of the loan is based upon the ability to repay and that while up to $14,000 may be made on a signature loan, that loans more than that had to be secured and they preference is for real estate. For businesses, the interest rate is four percent and the term can be up to 30 years.
Final comments came from Roger Faris who spoke to FEMA mitigation.
“Our mission is to stabilize and reduce or eliminate damaged property from hazardous events,” said Faris. “We have four components in our section. The folks who work with floodplain management and national flood insurance programs, the housing performance analysis group who look at scientific information to help support the mitigation programs, our grants and planning folks who work with state and local officials to come up with good ideas to prevent damage so they don’t have repeats of the same damage year after year or decade after decade as the storms come through or floods or earthquakes or whatever the hazard is, and then our community education and outreach group, which staffs the Disaster Recovery Centers with mitigation advisors to give specific information about how to rebuild safer and stronger with construction tips and techniques.”
The mitigation expert spoke to the fact that better and many times more expensive construction techniques are necessary to insure a building’s performance during an event. He compared a Florida law requiring an expensive tape to be used on seams of wooden roofs that is placed where the plywood come together producing a seal so that should shingles not hold up, the roof will still repel water. These and other choices made during construction can be so beneficial when events occur.
Sherrill later provided some additional comments and statistics.
“Not every renter or homeowner who registers with FEMA receives an SBA Disaster Loan Application—only if the household has an income level that might make it possible for them to repay a loan are they sent an application, otherwise they are referred directly to FEMA for other possible assistance,” stated Sherrill. “So these numbers reflect only those we have sent applications to—not total FEMA registrations.”
With that, the total number of loan applications issued to Liberty County residents is 8,336. Of that, 7,276 have gone to homes and 1,060 to businesses. Number-wise, Liberty County ranks 8th in number of applications issued among affected counties behind Harris, Galveston, Jefferson, Brazoria, Montgomery, Fort Bend and Orange Counties.
“Businesses are not subjected to an income test, stated Sherrill. “So any business that registers with FEMA receives an SBA Disaster Loan Application. Businesses of all sizes are eligible and we consider anyone who owns rental property as a business.”
Sherrill then summed it up with the following: “We are still issuing about 4,000 applications per day statewide. We have already approved close to $6 million in SBA Disaster Loans in Texas. We encourage everyone who has received an SBA application to complete it as soon as possible.”
The monthly Dayton Chamber of Commerce/Team City luncheon held on Tuesday, Oct. 7 was not only interesting but very timely with representatives from both FEMA and the Small Business Administration (SBA) on hand to provide a more detailed look in how the two organizations have been responding to Hurricane Ike and its aftermath.
Addressing the crowd was FEMA’s John Boyatt, Carl Sherrill of the SBA, and Roger Faris of FEMA, who spoke about mitigation. This was a larger than normal crowd with visitors from Cleveland and other parts of the county in attendance.
Boyatt took the microphone first and explained, among other things, the process by which FEMA becomes involved in something like Ike.
“You have a big wind,” began Boyatt, “the county takes a survey, and they take that survey and present it to the governor. The governor then presents that to the president and the president makes the decision as to whether to declare a disaster, or not.”
The FEMA spokesman then described what his organization does when that disaster has been declared.
“There are several things that FEMA does,” Boyatt stated. “They are the emergency assistance, individual and household programs, disaster unemployment assistance, crisis counseling programs and disaster legal services. Now, those legal services are put on by young lawyers and associations and they come and donate their time at our Disaster Recovery Center (DRC).”
Boyatt went on to describe emergency assistance as the most important part and explained to the crowd that the initial step, the very first thing that had to be done before anything else was getting registered with FEMA. This can be done, according to Boyatt, though the website at www.fema.gov or by phone at 1-800-621 FEMA (3362). Another number provided by Boyatt is the one for the hearing impaired which is 1-800-462-7585. Application can also be made at the DRC.
“The object, from FEMA’s viewpoint, is to make you safe, secure and sanitary,” said Boyatt. “You can expect to return to where you were at the beginning of the storm. The other thing that is primary is your primary residence. The primary residence is the only thing FEMA will cover.”
The spokesman then described the processing of applicants and that once all that was done, applicants are then sent to the SBA to see about a loan.
“We tell people that if you get a loan or deny a loan, you are not eligible for FEMA help,” explained Boyatt. “However, if you are declined then you can come back to FEMA for help. Now that help is in the sum of, and I’m sorry to say it’s not very much, it’s $30,300, and that just went up two or three days ago.”
Following additional comments from Boyatt, including the statement that FEMA won’t even talk to you until all insurance claims you may have are exhausted, Carl Sherrill, who has worked for the SBA for four years, took over. He first spoke to non-profit organizations and businesses that were affected by the storm, and then addressed individuals.
“By the time this disaster, as is typical with other disasters, probably 40 to 50 percent of the funds that are made available for recovery will come from the US Small Business Administration,” stated Sherrill. “If you are a small business or a non-profit organization, we encourage you to register with FEMA and in the space where it calls for an individual’s name, just put your business name in there.”
The SBA spokesman then reported that the funds available to help businesses recover are different than normal SBA loans in that rather than guaranteeing a loan through a local bank, these loan proceeds come directly from the US Treasury and not through the typical banking organization.
“The first question anyone looking at an application is how much do I need to borrow,” stated Sherrill. “You do not need to know that. The amount that you are going to need to borrow is going to be determined by the loss verifier that we’re going to send to your place of business or to the place that was damaged. They are going to look at what it will take to put you back to where you were on Sept. 11, the day before the disaster. And those funds that we consider loaning to you can include any repairs necessary to meet code requirements as well as up to 20 percent of the damage, can include funds for mitigation.”
That, plus what it is going to cost to stay in business in the way of meeting mortgage and vendor obligations as well as payroll for key employees until things return to normal. All this goes in to figure how much the loan will be.
“The second thing is that you don’t need to have your insurance settled before you complete your SBA application,” stated Sherrill. “Neither FEMA or SBA is allowed to duplicate benefits. FEMA’s funds are grants and because they are grants, FEMA wants you to have your insurance settled before they give that grant money to you because they have no way of recovering those funds if later you get an insurance settlement. With SBA, you do not need to have your insurance settled because we can take an assignment of the insurance proceeds, go ahead and loan you the funds so you can begin the recovery, and then whenever your insurance is resolved, we can use those funds to reduce the loan amount.”
Sherrill then described that although SBA’s goal for funding is 21 days from when the application is completed, that for businesses the average expanse of time before funding is averaging within 10 days. He also said that the amount of the loan is based upon the ability to repay and that while up to $14,000 may be made on a signature loan, that loans more than that had to be secured and they preference is for real estate. For businesses, the interest rate is four percent and the term can be up to 30 years.
Final comments came from Roger Faris who spoke to FEMA mitigation.
“Our mission is to stabilize and reduce or eliminate damaged property from hazardous events,” said Faris. “We have four components in our section. The folks who work with floodplain management and national flood insurance programs, the housing performance analysis group who look at scientific information to help support the mitigation programs, our grants and planning folks who work with state and local officials to come up with good ideas to prevent damage so they don’t have repeats of the same damage year after year or decade after decade as the storms come through or floods or earthquakes or whatever the hazard is, and then our community education and outreach group, which staffs the Disaster Recovery Centers with mitigation advisors to give specific information about how to rebuild safer and stronger with construction tips and techniques.”
The mitigation expert spoke to the fact that better and many times more expensive construction techniques are necessary to insure a building’s performance during an event. He compared a Florida law requiring an expensive tape to be used on seams of wooden roofs that is placed where the plywood come together producing a seal so that should shingles not hold up, the roof will still repel water. These and other choices made during construction can be so beneficial when events occur.
Sherrill later provided some additional comments and statistics.
“Not every renter or homeowner who registers with FEMA receives an SBA Disaster Loan Application—only if the household has an income level that might make it possible for them to repay a loan are they sent an application, otherwise they are referred directly to FEMA for other possible assistance,” stated Sherrill. “So these numbers reflect only those we have sent applications to—not total FEMA registrations.”
With that, the total number of loan applications issued to Liberty County residents is 8,336. Of that, 7,276 have gone to homes and 1,060 to businesses. Number-wise, Liberty County ranks 8th in number of applications issued among affected counties behind Harris, Galveston, Jefferson, Brazoria, Montgomery, Fort Bend and Orange Counties.
“Businesses are not subjected to an income test, stated Sherrill. “So any business that registers with FEMA receives an SBA Disaster Loan Application. Businesses of all sizes are eligible and we consider anyone who owns rental property as a business.”
Sherrill then summed it up with the following: “We are still issuing about 4,000 applications per day statewide. We have already approved close to $6 million in SBA Disaster Loans in Texas. We encourage everyone who has received an SBA application to complete it as soon as possible.”
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