Follow Up on the FEMA Appeal
Last Friday, December 5, it was announced that the city of Atascadero’s appeal to FEMA had been decided. The city had appealed FEMA’s initial determination to pay only about 15 million of the approximately 26 million dollars claimed to rebuild the Rotunda building. In its ruling on the city’s appeal seeking more than 10 million dollars, FEMA agreed to grant only about 166,000 dollars more. That outcome obviously represents a setback. It is but one battle, however, and certainly does not spell defeat in the overall campaign to secure federal funding for the restoration of the Rotunda.
As I said at the city council meeting on December 9, the impending arrival of the new administration in Washington brings with it additional opportunities for the city to get federal support in rebuilding the Rotunda. According to news reports, the infrastructure program planned by the Obama administration will make funding available for the retrofitting of public buildings, particularly for the purpose of equipping them with more efficient heating and cooling systems. Through this program Atascadero ought to be able to find money to fund the work needed on the Rotunda’s HVAC system, for which FEMA has denied about 4.3 million dollars sought by the city. The rest of the infrastructure program should be studied as well, to find out whether the program offers additional prospects to obtain federal money to use in reconstructing Atascadero’s Rotunda building.
Similar funding opportunities might also be found in the Obama administration’s proposed economic stimulus program. Since the program contemplates supporting public works projects which are likely to boost economic activity and promote growth, the Rotunda project would seem to be a strong candidate for inclusion. Rebuilding the Rotunda, especially as some kind of attraction, will draw pedestrian traffic into downtown Atascadero and give a big boost to the effort to redevelop Atascadero’s central business district. Based on this, a cogent argument can be made that reconstructing Atascadero’s historic Rotunda building is a classic example of a public works project that deserves federal support as part of the economic stimulus program. On that topic, during the county board of supervisors meeting on December 9, it was mentioned that Senator Barbara Boxer had asked the supervisors for a list of projects in San Luis Obispo county that would be good candidates for inclusion in the stimulus program. In responding, the county should put reconstruction of the Rotunda building at the very top of its list. Not only will the project provide needed stimulus to economic activity in Atascadero, but it will also preserve one of the county’s most distinguished historic structures.
After I made the preceding points at the December 9 city council meeting, the city manager responded with assurances that the staff is on top of these matters and is in the process of preparing to pursue funding for the Rotunda project from the federal infrastructure and stimulus programs. In that regard, we need to strike while the iron is hot. Upon the arrival of a Democratic administration in the White House, the California congressional delegation will become more influential than it has been in years. Before they get too long a list of other requests, both of California’s Democratic U.S. senators, and possibly the Speaker of the House, should be made aware of our very worthy public building project in Atascadero and asked to lend their support to its inclusion in the infrastructure and stimulus programs. Assistance should also be sought from Representatives McCarthy and Capps. The point is to pursue these promising federal funding possibilities assiduously, and not leave all of our eggs in the FEMA basket, in the quest for financing to restore the Rotunda.
Returning to the subject of the FEMA appeal, l cannot fairly assess the merits of a second level appeal because I am not privy to all of the details about the factual and legal bases for the claim. In any event, the city manager reiterated the other night that it is his intention to take the appeal to the second and last level within FEMA. He said that the unsuccessful outcome at the first level was not that surprising due to the fact that the individuals who decided the appeal were also involved in the decision being appealed from. At the next level, however, the appeal is supposed to be adjudicated in Washington by a different group of FEMA officials. Based on this, the city manager believes that there is hope for a different outcome at the next level.
Even within FEMA, though, we should not rely entirely on the appeal. As I suggested at the council meeting on Tuesday night, the city should augment the ground war which the appeal process represents with an air war that involves trying to win over FEMA officials at higher levels. With Janet Napolitano becoming the new Secretary of Homeland Security, presumably a new Administrator of FEMA, and possibly other new appointees, will be coming into FEMA. Atascadero can make a strong case to the higher officials that the earthquake which struck our area in December 2003 inflicted major damage to our community by the destruction it caused to our signature building in the heart of the city, and that communities in our position must depend on FEMA to help us recover from such natural disasters. In the current environment, that argument should derive additional resonance from the reality that by helping Atascadero rebuild the Rotunda, FEMA will be doing something that promotes the administration’s objective of stimulating economic activity.
So the setback represented by the decision on the initial appeal to FEMA is far from a fatal blow to the efforts to fund the reconstruction of the Rotunda. At this point, however, we need to adopt a two-track strategy. On track one, relating to FEMA, we should take what happened on the first level appeal and learn from it in refining and improving the arguments to be presented at the second level. At the same time, we should initiate efforts to present our persuasive case for support to higher-ups within FEMA. On track two, outside of FEMA, we need to seek federal funding for the project from the incoming administration’s infrastructure and stimulus programs. The bottom line is that Atascadero has a compelling rationale for requesting federal support for the reconstruction of the historic Rotunda building. We just need to pursue the matter vigorously at all levels and by all available means.