On September 14, 2008, Hurricane Ike washed over the city of Galveston with a fury that surprised many of the 20,000 people who decided to stay despite the voluntary and mandatory evacuation orders issued throughout the region. Damages were estimated in the tens of billions of dollars. In January of 2009, Witt Associates was contracted to provide support with a broad spectrum of emergency management and recovery needs, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA’s) Public Assistance program grant process and the debris oversight process, which included ensuring that debris operations were handled efficiently and in conformance with program requirements so that problems could be avoided and debris-related reimbursement from FEMA could be maximized.

To effectively manage and oversee the debris collection efforts to ensure program compliance and eventual reimbursement, Witt Associates worked with the City and the City’s debris removal contractors to prepare a debris management plan, dividing the city into quadrants for management and monitoring purposes, and identifying both collection and disposal sites that met all regulatory and environmental requirements. A common load-ticketing process and protocols to monitor debris vehicles and their loads from pick-up location to final disposal were put into place.

Witt Associates also activated a team of Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) specialists who were sent into the field to work with contractors at the federal, state and local levels. Our personnel worked with debris firms, contractors, and monitors, and provided oversight for both training and guidance on best practices and documentation requirements. They provided spot-checks on debris handling, separation and recycling, and checked environmental rule and regulation compliance. Throughout the operation, Witt Associates QA/QC specialists quickly identified problems and worked with debris contractors to resolve them as quickly as possible. Witt Associates oversaw the implementation and management of the demolition and disposal program related to unsafe structures on private property, validated the compliance and activity of contractors and others involved in that activity, and communicated guidelines and protocols for the handling of historic properties or environmental issues in the demolition and disposal effort.

Witt Associates is currently assisting the City of Galveston with services designed to maximize FEMA funding for eligible work and expedite the process of recovery, so that the city can retain funds during projects closeout and audit. Some of the critical ways in which Witt Associates is assisting the City of Galveston include:

• Providing general grant management advice and assistance in development of a disaster recovery team, and development of a comprehensive recovery strategy

• Providing eligibility guidance, working with the City of Galveston to develop justifications for presentation to FEMA and the state, working with the city to resolve disputes that may arise

• Assisting in the preparation of project worksheets

• Inspecting damage sites

• Assisting affected applicants with completing debris removal documents

• Advocating for maximum benefits for the city with both the state and FEMA

• Assisting with requests for time extensions to FEMA

• Advising the City of Galveston on requests for improved or alternate projects

• Advising the City of Galveston on processing appeals within federally mandated deadlines

• Suggesting and identifying hazard mitigation projects for damaged facilities, working with city departments to develop HMGP project applications for submission and consideration by state mitigation personnel

A short time after the Galveston efforts began, the city was already crediting Witt Associates with securing for them substantial amounts of additional funding and advancing complex and politically sensitive recovery projects that had languished since the hurricane devastated Galveston Island. Specifically, Witt Associates personnel were able to change the cleaning of the City’s Storm Drainage System category from the permanent category “C” to the debris removal category “A,” and increase the City’s reimbursement of debris removal expenses by millions of dollars.