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The Harlan Fiscal Court heard information concerning the ongoing recovery activities related to the flooding which impacted the county along with much of the state in February.

Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley brought the matter up early in the meeting, turning the floor over to Stephen Clark of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience.

Clark explained the organization has been in the area speaking with residents about low interest disaster loans which are available for homeowners, renters, private nonprofits and small businesses.

“I would like to provide an additional reminder that the deadline is coming up,” Clark said. “That’s April 25. That’s the deadline for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration) individual assistance.”

Clark mentioned the deadline applies to those seeking assistance from FEMA for primary residence and property damages.

“I would like to emphasize there is no application fee for SBA assistance,” Clark said. “There is no obligation to take it if you’re approved.”

Clark stated it would be advantageous for residents to apply for assistance so they will know what options are available. He added there are separate disaster loans available for private nonprofits and small businesses which lost revenue due to the flooding.

“You do not have to have any physical damage to qualify,” Clark said. “The application deadline for those is Nov. 24, so the nonprofit businesses have more time to determine if they need assistance with that.”

Mosley updated the court on additional recovery activities related to the flood.

“As you recall, last month FEMA was in this room until the court meeting. Then they downsized and started using the adjacent conference rooms and the hallway. We still had quite a few people here up through last Wednesday,” Mosley said.

According to Mosley, FEMA made contact with more than 200 individual residents of Harlan County who suffered some form of flood damage.

“They were able to help more than 50 percent of those folks,” Mosley said. “There are still appeals going on with others.”

Mosley then turned the floor over to Harlan County Emergency Management Director Stephen Lewis for information on the voluntary buyout program.

“The state hasn’t gotten much information on that back to us on that,” Lewis said. “The deadline for people to apply for that is April 30.”

According to Lewis, once the list of people interested in the buyout program is completed, applications will be sent to the interested parties.

Mosley clarified the buyout program has not yet been funded and is only in the survey stage to determine if such a program will be put into action.

“I like to give people hope, but I don’t like to give people false hope,” Mosley said. “It’s a voluntary buyout program, and they’re trying to put together a list of willing participants so they can see if they can get funding. It is my understanding that they have no funding that is allocated for that program. It’s new, it’s the first time we’ve ever qualified here in Harlan County to even be part of such of a survey.”

Mosley noted some people may be confused about the status of the buyout program.

“I think some folks thought they were going to be bought out immediately, and this bypasses all the bureaucracy that you would have to deal with,” Mosley said. “But there is no funding directly attached to that program to my knowledge.”