03/29/2024

NC Step Program, with AECOM, Vice President, Jim Netterwald, Disaster Relief

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By Charlotte Smith

The Bladen Disaster Recovery Team met on Tuesday morning to discuss progress made on repairing storm damaged homes and plans to continue offering assistance to Hurricane Florence victims. Legal assistance was one new service announced during the meeting.

There will be an In-person Civil Legal Relief Assistance Clinic with attorneys offered twice in April at the Bladen Disaster Recovery Team headquarters located at 108 South Cypress Street in Elizabethtown according to Disaster Legal Aid of NC representative, Emma Smiley. The attorneys will be on site to answer legal questions regarding issues residence have faced due to the devastation from Hurricane Florence.

Some legal issues listed by Smiley may be FEMA appeals for denied cases, housing issues for renters, people taken advantage of by contractors and insurance claims denied and/or canceled insurance policies. The program is funded by a Golden Leaf grant. Judge Dale Deese will be the supervising attorney over the clinic.

President of the Bladen Disaster Recovery Team, Rev. Jason Williams said anyone wanting to make an appointment for the legal assistance may contact the headquarters at 910-862-7811.

Issues about the Step Program, with AECOM, Vice President, Mr. Jim Netterwald were addressed by the team. AECOM works with the State of North Carolina and FEMA to provide services for multi-million dollar contracts. The contracts are for flood and other risk data services and emergency recovery services according to a press release by AECOM.

The release states, “AECOM will provide disaster recovery services, damage assessments, cost estimates, debris removal management, insurance assessments, long-term recovery planning and technical publications.”

During the Tuesday morning meeting, Rev. Williams asked Netterwald to input all AECOM Bladen County clients in Charity Tracker for better communication with the disaster relief team. In Bladen County there are 134 residents AECOM claimed for assistance according to Netterwald, but only 12 projects have been approved.  He reported, Persons Construction as being the contractor with “88 projects complete and 66 are in construction.”

The deadline is April 2, 2019 for all projects in Bladen County that are in AECOM’s case management according to Netterwald. When Netterwald reported only 12 projects have been officially approved, leaving over 100 still needing attention cause for concern grew.

“However, these are all estimated numbers,” Netterwald said.

Concerns about AECOM projects being left incomplete and/or not passing inspections have been reported for weeks now to the disaster team members by residents in Bladen County. Netterwald addressed the group and sited similar concerns with their work in the Virgin Islands, however, he did not expound on the issues or solutions.

The Bladen Baptist Men had purchased supplies a home damaged due to the hurricane. The home project was taken away from the non-profit according to reports and was recently awarded to AECOM.

AECOM’s fast approaching deadline for contractors with incomplete projects in Bladen County are concerning to some.

Netterwald introduced Mr. Paul Stevens, with Person’s Service Corp. as the general contractor assisting in Bladen County. Stevens told one of the county inspectors in the meeting the contracting company would be back tracking now, when he was asked about work failing inspections. The County Inspector informed Stevens the county’s Fire Marshall and other officials were aware of the inspections.

Roofs, flooring and dry wall services are not required to be inspected. According to AECOM and Person’s Service Corp. representatives, permits have been pulled on required services.

Rev. Darrell Copeland Chairman of the Financing committee of the team and others in attendance spoke about the importance of fundraising. The group is applying for funding from Red Cross, Duke Energy and CrowdRise. The funds raised will be used to assist hurricane victims in Bladen County.

The organizers of the CrowdRise fundraiser want to remind supporters, “When you give, you are doing more than giving money, you’re restoring hope to families affected by Hurricane Florence. ”

Also mentioned about CrowdRise fundraiser was the top 5 organizations participating in the CrowdRise fundraiser to receive the greatest number of individual online donations between Monday, March 25th and Monday, April 1st will each be awarded a $3,000 grant.

The grant will be extra funding for the disaster recovery team if it is awarded.

If you would like to donate to the Bladen Disaster Recovery Team visit the CrowdRise website now.

Mrs. Lauren Womble Thomas recognized United Way of Bladen County for all the assistance the non-profit has provided to the team and to residents devastated by the hurricane. Thomas announced United Way of Bladen County, President Christy Sasser would be retiring from the United Way board in April.

Sasser has been present during a much needed time and will be greatly missed on the team according to those in attendance.

Since Hurricane Florence, Bladen Disaster Relief Center has served as a hub for disaster relief according to Rev. Williams. Bladen Disaster Recovery Team, with the assistance from non-profits, has linked Bladen County hurricane victims with over $120 thousand of dollars worth of resources and services according to Rev. Jason Williams.

“There needs to be more action,” Williams stated.

The team is in search of a Program Director. Anyone interested in the position may contact the center at 108 South Cypress Street in Elizabethtown or call 910-862-7811.

Related articles:

Hurricane Florence Still Causing Problems In Bladen County

https://bladencounty.org/hurricane-florence-still-causing-problems-in-bladen-county/

 

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