HERMANN – The Gasconade County Commission last week heard that billions of dollars are available to help counties recover some of their expense of repairing rain-damaged roads — such the work in this county made necessary by repeated heavy rainstorms this spring. That’s the good news.

The reality, however, is that considering how many counties across the nation might be applying for some of that money, the per-county share seems rather small. In Gasconade County’s case, the amount is $71,898, according to Elizabeth Thompson of the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).

The Region F coordinator, Thompson is SEMA’s liaison with administrators of 13 central Missouri counties, assisting them as they deal with disasters such as flooding and heavy downpours that require remedial work on county roads.

“This is the largest FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) grant program in the country,” Thompson said of the program that local governments can tap to help offset their costs. “They have billions of dollars to help counties deal with disasters,” she added.

But before a county can begin the process of applying for assistance, a presidential declaration of an emergency must be made for a specific area. So far, the road-damage conditions have not been met that would trigger a request from Gov. Mike Kehoe to the White House for a presidential declaration that would make available those funds.

“Each county has a monetary damage threshold,” Thompson said, speaking to the Commission during last week’s session. Any grant funding approved would be on a 75-25 basis, with the local government responsible for a 25-percent share of the funding. That can involve in-kind contributions such as equipment use, overtime needed to deal with the repairs and other things. The key point for local officials to be mindful of, she said, is to thoroughly document everything that could be factored into the local matching contribution.

“That’s very important,” she said.

Southern District Associate Commissioner Ron Hardecke, R-Owensville, said that while applying for a grant might not prove fruitful, “it’s worth a shot.”

Thompson said it’s important that county officials maintain contact with her office regarding conditions.

“Much of this is about communication,” she said. “If I don’t know what’s happening, I can’t help you. It’s really just about having good communications.”

Meanwhile, Hardecke, whose district has been hard hit by the heavy rains that have soaked the region in recent weeks, said residents seem to be understanding of the Road Department’s need to deal with emergency road repairs, which includes washouts and blocked culverts. For the past several weeks, this emergency-response work has kept road crews from their regularly scheduled maintenance of the county’s roads.

“People generally understand,” Hardecke said. “We’re trying to explain why our road maintenance has not been done these past three months,” he added.

Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann, reported that his area has had trouble spots, as well, but that the roads on the northern end of the county wasn’t affected by the heavy rains as were those on the southern end.