Latest / The County Line / The County Line Podcast: Ep. 11

Transcript

The County Line Podcast: Ep. 11 · The County Line

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_02: You're listening to the County Line Podcast, production of the Tulsa County Board of County Commissioners.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: All right, Tulsa County Commissioner Lonnie Sims, District 2.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the County Line Podcast.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, great to have uh our Tulsa County Emergency Management Director, Mr.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_02: Bill Smiley, in the house today.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: My deputy chief Mark Van Kuren is uh is pinch hinting in case I fall out and uh and need somebody to pick me up.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_02: I know he he's always here to do that, so I appreciate both of you being here today.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh gonna talk about some good stuff, voluntary buyout.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we talk about a lot.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think the uh the people in the county really know as much about it as I hope we can kind of convey to them today.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: And really, that's what this podcast is all about is getting information out about the buyout program.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's something that uh we've really taken to another level since you've come on board in what October 2025 is when you came on board, and we had a ton of applications for this program that were lingering and had been lingering really since the 2019 Arkansas flood event.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe that's where we need to kind of start with a little history of how did the voluntary buyout program come about?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh let us know.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, so the 2019 flooding was some of the most severe flooding that we've had in this area.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, the 84 and 86 floods, Memorial Day floods uh were very bad as well.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: But um so what happened is after the 2019 flooding, we had a team that got together, and I know you guys were members of that group, and um we met and decided that we needed to make an application for the flood buyout program.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a couple different ways you can do that.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: One is through HUD, and the other one is through FEMA.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: We chose the HUD route.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: What did you say HUD?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: That is housing and urban development through the Department of Commerce.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: So we made the application through the Department of Commerce, and um a few years later we received some funds to start the buyout program.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Initially it was$14 million, and we started making requests to uh for people to put in their applications online.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um certainly can call our office, but yeah, so that's how it started.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: And you you're very much involved in that.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I just want to highlight that because I think as a state total, we received what was it like$35 million?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was about uh we've got the anticipating the potential to have that much uh initially.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was$32 million, right?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so Tulsa County got almost half of that, right?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely what was awarded to the state.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: Tulsa County ended up getting, you know, close to I think the year.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: 14 and some change.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 14.3, I believe, is what we got.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: So almost half of that.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it's kind of a testament to the team that got put together that really uh went and lobbied for that money and uh put in a good solid application.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's really what it's about is the entire team.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: We have a project management uh team that goes through and makes sure we're getting all the um work done that needs to be done, that we've got a quality assurance program, that we're making sure that applications are received and processed as they're supposed to, and then helping the applicants all the way through the process to the end.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's the biggest thing.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Our team's been really good at that.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, my job as a director is obviously to keep the commissioners informed, to keep the public informed about what we're doing, which is great with this podcast, um, giving them access to the information so they can apply, but certainly to make sure that if there's any bottlenecks in the program that we're um resolving those as quickly as we can.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we did have some when I initially arrived.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: So um we got those resolved and um, yeah, we're moving right along.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: The states had so much confidence in us that they're giving us, and they've already given us the additional two and a half million dollars for our program.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I we feel really good about that.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, the biggest thing to feel good about, I think, is the ability to help the public, right?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, to change people's lives is really the way um we we feel.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for emergency management, that's really what it's about is um you know thinking about how you're gonna help the people locally um and what can you do as a public servant to make sure that that is occurring no matter what, right?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's the authority.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: So and I appreciate all the support that I've gotten from everybody here.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's really it's really helped.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: So well, uh appreciate your leadership uh tremendously, just to kind of you know add a little more to the history.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: You were really with the Tulsa Army Corps of Engineers.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: You were with the Tulsa district back then.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: Me and Mark were both at the the state house.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we did a full interim study uh on the Arkansas River flood event and brought brought all stakeholders to to really come to bear and what do we do right?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: What did we do wrong?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: What we found was the state doesn't have a flood problem, we've got a disaster problem.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and it really, you know, from wildfires to ice storms to you know what we experienced in 2019 with the flood event.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: And it was really how do we how can we better align all the you know the levels of government and the different even the tribal, you know, we've got to bring those partners in as well because they have emergency responders and managers that are throughout the state, and really that collaboration has led to uh garning some of the federal resources and going after it because uh a lot of people don't understand that part of the disaster declaration, and that's really that what triggers this is a presidential disaster declaration.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of this comes with financial support.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh sometimes it requires matching dollars to gain that.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: And as a state, you know, unfortunately, disasters are kind of our bumper crop, right?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: And we need to find a way to capitalize on it so we can rebuild these communities, build back in resilience, and that's what the flood buyout program really, when I look at it, is is doing here.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's getting people out of harm's way, uh moving them out of the flood way, out of the floodplain.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I believe it's the 100-year-old is that the guide?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Is it primarily FEMA maps?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Is that kind of primarily within the maps that we're using?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so they kind of guide our entire process um between FEMA and HUD uh to make sure that we're getting um the people that need the you know buyout program the most of the information to participate.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: So one of the one of the things that I saw that uh was kind of new disaster risk reduction areas.
• 6:30
  unknown: Right.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: That was something new that kind of came out of this DRA.
• 6:34
  unknown: Right.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the it's the federal government recognizing that you know we've got to get people out of harm's way.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: So how do we best initiate that?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I think there was really two uh eligibility requirements, uh low to moderate income and then urgent need.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that was if I if I remember right, this is really where we were kind of hung up is we really addressed the low to moderate income.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: We hadn't pivoted to the urgent need, which is really this the second phase.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: And is that kind of where we're at now with the bio programming?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: We are, uh absolutely.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: So the requirement is that we meet a certain threshold for the low to moderate income before we can start on the urgent need, which I've had the chance, I would say we should do urgent need first, right?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then low to moderate income.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: But what it is is what it is.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we got through that and made sure we sped that as long as fast as possibly could to get to the urgent need, right?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so that's where we're at right now is the urgent need applications, and uh that's moving along well.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um even to the point, I think if we're if we're able to, we'll apply for some more grant funds at the end of the year, probably through building resilience in communities.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and hopefully we can get to some more of those hopes.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, or brick, brick grants.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: So we just take advantage of anything that we've got that's uh tribal or or whatever it is with our partners.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's probably the biggest thing to mention is that tribal partners and local partners are so important to us.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I I mention every day just just that response is our grade, right?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's how well we've done preparing and mitigating and you know, and all those things.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: So um I think we're better than we were absolutely in 2019.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And but we're always striving to be the very best that we can, being the the second largest county side.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want to be first, we just want to be the best.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: So in response and taking care of our local community.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what we're striving for.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, I know there's uh you know a lot of information that's out there to the public.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure you know how familiar they are with the the process.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: We've done a good job of applications, and it's easy to find that on the uh dashboard.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: We actually have a dashboard which has a heat map.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't just the Arkansas River that flooded.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you had Bird Creek, you had Snake Creek, you had different areas around Tulsa County.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: And the dashboard kind of gives you an idea of where kind of those hot zones were where we had a lot of people do out there.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: But I believe it's Tulsa County.org and it's under the Tulsa County Emergency Management tab.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, sir.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: But if you just Google uh Tulsa County buyout volunteer flood buyout, it should take you right there.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I know you may explain some of the resources that are there.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: The um so one of my goals when I started was transparency.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we talked about it during the interview.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so this is one of the resources that we're using to be transparent to the public so they can see exactly where we're at with the program, where where the money's being spent, and then they have an opportunity.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's a link on that page.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you just Google up Tulsa County buyout, you'll see there's an application link, and they can click on that link and they can start the application process.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I've asked the team to do is not just stop there because, for example, filing your taxes, not easy, right?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: So these programs are not easy to apply for, they use a lot of acronyms.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so people who need assistance, my phone number's on there, they can call that.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's also our also our EOC duty officer.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then I will get them in touch with the subject matter experts who will walk them through how to fill out their application to make sure it's completed timely.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then I've also instructed the team to make sure that they're following up with people, whatever step they're at, uh, make sure they're moving along.
• 10:22
  unknown: Yeah.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I th I think that's critical.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people, it's it's challenging.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you fill out grants all the time.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: I know we we saw them at the state level.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, a lot of these applications you read, it's it's like reading a foreign language, and uh, it can be very daunting and uh really discouraging to a lot of people who are out there.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: The important thing is we have resources here, people available, experts that are going to help walk them through and guide them through there.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: And appreciate your efforts.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: You mentioned the three million additional dollars that we were able to secure from the state this year, which pushes us up to, I think we've got 6.3 million uh left in that program, as is.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we've expended 10.3 million to date, which is outstanding.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: That's you know, those are lives that uh, you know, are gonna be in a safer position that aren't gonna be impacted in the future.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, when you think about that entire event, it was a$3 billion loss event for the state of Oklahoma.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so by getting uh these properties out of harm's way, people out of harm's way, you limit the risk to our emergency responders, you uh minimize the amount of loss and cost.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: Those dollars can be expended on roads, which we definitely like paving in district two uh and other types of infrastructure.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: So uh really appreciate just everybody's coming together.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: But the important thing for people to understand is there's resources here that are available to help step and walk you through.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: There is still an opportunity, and as you mentioned with BRIC and some of these other things, there could be possibly more money coming.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, so continue to submit your applications.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: One thing I did want to ask you about is I know the period of performance for this particular program was uh from December 6th of 2022 to December 5th of this year.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: Is there expiration on this?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, what does that mean, the period of performance?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: So every grant has a period in which the grant needs to be executed.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so the period of performance, we call it the POP, obviously, another acronym.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: But um that is typically the the end date for the grant when you're supposed to have everything wrapped up um and completed.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we go through some QA processes, and as a matter of fact, we're we're having HUD come next month to do an assessment of how we're doing, and we welcome that because our our team is good at what we do.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: So um, but the pop can be extended, and that's what we're working on right now because we received some extra money.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're trying to extend it, we're gonna get extended to 2027.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: That was part of the deal um with the state when we talked to them.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna need more time, more money, and to do all that.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: And folks can still apply.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Here, here's the thing is that you never know where additional funds are gonna come in.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna keep fighting wherever we hear about money that's available for our communities.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And um, that means that if you apply, you're in the queue, right?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: You're there, and and if you don't get selected right now because somebody has a higher need or whatever, or uh there's also opportunities if somebody, when the paperwork is getting done, maybe they find something about their income that's a hiccup, just like a mortgage.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, then you move up, right?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: So uh it's always important to apply, be in being and we tell people just keep applying, and uh we'll see if we can't run towards daylight on that.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: No, once they put in an application to your point, they're in the queue, so they don't need to reapply at that point.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: They're not.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: Do they need to periodically follow up, or is that something we're gonna do for them automatically?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: We are gonna do that, we're gonna do that for them.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: But there's uh I receive calls um that uh, hey, where is my thing?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Where is my application and what's going on with a specific element or whatnot?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: So our contractor, we have a phone number with the contractor.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: I give the public the contractor's phone number.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're uh we're hands-on.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna make sure that they get in touch with somebody, a talking person that'll walk them through the process and let them know what to do.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that was a success story too.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: We hold a monthly uh district two breakfast and where anybody from the community can come in.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it's really uh get a lot of directors that come in and share information about projects we have going on at district two.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: More importantly, it's about the public being able uh to access their leaders within the county.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: And if there's issues out there, bring them to our attention, give us an opportunity to address them.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, one of the first I think breakfast we had, we had a gentleman who had been tied up in the buyout program for a significant amount of time.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh one of the first.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: And and I appreciate you stepping right in.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: And that was really uh, you know, one of the ones that had been caught in the bottleneck, so to speak.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's really about um just working through the problems and not letting the problem fester, um, finding out what needs to be done, you know, create pushing through the bottleneck.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and sometimes you just have to push as hard as you possibly can.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think everybody wants to do a good job in public service.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that it there's so much going on that sometimes the priorities get a little bit mixed up and you just got to focus on what we need right now, what's in front of us, and then get back to your project or whatever it is you're working on.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So our team is real good at flexible, being flexible, yeah, flexing one way or another.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and I don't want to discount your leadership in that too, just having the experience coming from the core and and having lived through that process.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it was it was uh what May we had three significant storms through there, like 15 inches of rain.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: And uh uh just to tell a quick story, I was in the statehouse at the time and we were right in the middle of deadline week.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I basically told them, hey, I told leadership I've got to go.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we've got a serious flood event going on uh back home.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: I was a former mayor of Jinx, and so as I'm driving back, I called the aquarium director and he said, Hey, we're trying to figure out you know how to get the fish out at this point.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we were built uh you know one foot above the hundred-year flood.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: You're in good shape, we don't need to move the fish anywhere.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: But uh it it once we pulled up to the aquarium, we're literally getting out, and my legislative assistant Thomas Kerr, of course, who's now with Congressman Hearn's office, uh, was with me, but we're walking in the tornado sirens go on.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: So this is how I mean we had storm after storm coming through.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: So here I'm going for a flood event, and I've got a tornado siren going on at the same time.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: As we're walking into the aquarium, we're walking down the kind of the main alleyway there, headed towards the shark tank.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_02: And right on queue, he looks over to me and he said, uh, representative, uh, we're gonna see a real live shark NATO.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh what a lot of people don't know is the actually safe room, the tornado safe room for the aquarium is the shark tank.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess you know, he was kind of it could actually happen.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad it didn't and hope it never does.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: But uh it was it was something that just kind of hit us both in that moment.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like, wow, this is uh insane what's going on right now.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: It was a very traumatic event for the community, uh, really for the entire Arkansas River basin right uh through that time.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we flew with the National Guard down to Muscogee, Muscogee.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: I think at one point it was five miles wide for one section.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people probably remember the batfish.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they were afraid it was gonna get loose and and uh and you know that was a battering submarine back in the day.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: So so they they felt like that would uh probably not uh fare well, you know, or the dam would not fare well if that thing came floating down and and ran into it.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh when it comes to the incentive program, I think that's something we probably haven't talked about at all when it comes to these.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: We just talk about the big numbers.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: I wanted to kind of highlight the little numbers when it comes to this.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: So the voluntary buyout program, uh there's there's a couple of incentives.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: You know, one is obviously with fair market value for the house.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: We actually that was that's a good point to interrupt my boss.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: The um the fair market value is we we took the we asked in the plan to make sure that we use the value of the pre-disaster value the most money out of their house that we possibly could.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that's uh you gotta put that kind of stuff in the plan to make sure that um people get what they need.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because you got I mean think about the value of your property after it's been flooded, right after that neighborhood's been inundated, you know, your values are gonna drop significantly.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: So just having the foresight to put that in there uh really helps, you know, one get them back the value of what their house is worth.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, in the time since 2019, obviously we've seen inflation go.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a next component, which is actually the gap between you know what today's value is or what yesterday's value of the house was, to what it's really gonna take you to get into a similar house that's out of harm's way in a safer area.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: How much kind of swag is there with that gap?
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: How you know, well it's it's primarily with um items in the plan that support additional functions for the homeowner.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, obviously a lot of it is economics.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um because historically, people that are in floods, when they don't have support like this, they'll leave, they'll they'll go somewhere else to a family member and wherever.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: So we want to keep them here because you know they're Oklahomans and we'll we'll take care of them.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: But in the plan, things like rental assurance uh um and support for the reimbursing them for renting a property or uh renting something while they're out or um other expenses that they may have for um themselves and their family.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we reimburse those things, and that's really where the differences come from on making sure that they're taken care of the whole process through, right?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right to the end, through the demolition of the property and getting back to being whole, right?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: And that brings us kind of to the end game when it comes to the demo of the property.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, we're we're looking at opportunities as, you know, written into the contract that you you said there's certain things that are written in there.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: Part of that is that you can no longer develop on these properties, you can no longer build in perpetuity for good reason.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: We don't want to repeat it what just happened.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we've invested a lot of money to make sure that doesn't happen.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but it still leaves a green space out there that needs to be maintained.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the county maintains it, but there is an opportunity, and we're working at opportunities for the adjacent property owners who might want to utilize that property just to have that additional green space for their house, uh, for their family to enjoy.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh tell us a little bit about that.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: So uh thankfully, you know, the plan has a couple options for the um properties after they're uh demolished.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: So you're absolutely correct.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: They can't use it.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's criteria and things you can't do on the property, and it's it's pretty strict.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: So but one of the options is a lease maintenance, which we're working on right now.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: So the district attorney's office has helps us develop a form.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: And we're going to go out with the the assistance of uh getting addresses from our our folks in the county, the assessor's office and the clerk's office, and and put out letters to those folks and say, hey, you've you've got this property adjacent to you.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to le maintain it, you can lease it from the county for as long as you maintain it in a you know, an appearance positive state, I guess.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: For sure what I would say.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um then there's also some other options like the county could sell the property that's in the plan as well, which that would probably be more like a second step.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but right now, you know, it's all about making sure we're fiscally accountable for the funds that we do have.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so we want to make sure that we can move these properties to another phase, whether it's maybe a quick deed to the city that's there or a park or whatever they may want, a dog park or something like that.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, that's all the things we're trying to work on now that we're in that that phase.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's kind of exciting, right?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: We're wrapping it up, so to speak, in these areas, and uh those communities will have some nice spaces.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, yeah.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you think of Katrina, you think of houses that were flooded that were really abandoned, right?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: And so just to get that out of the neighborhood to get the neighborhood back to to a state where uh you know people are proud to drive through it.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: You're not having to see those houses that have been sitting for so long.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: So just really appreciate your efforts there, deputy chief.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: Any uh any questions for emergency manager?
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we pretty much covered everything, but maybe just a quick recap on what it is you you go in, how do you access the program?
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: We've talked about how much money is left and everything.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: Just a quick recap of how yeah things work.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: So um, I think the biggest thing is that no matter what the disaster is, there's always some kind of assistance, whether it's a response or a mitigation later.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: So contacting your emergency manager is probably your first point, and then your elected officials, right?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: So elected officials drive all this and making sure that things are moving the way, and the emergency manager helps execute it.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um so for folks that are in Tulsa County, it's a go to uh Tulsa County buyout program, just Google it up, has all the instructions.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: My phone number is on there 918-630-6516.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a public official, so people should just have it.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can call them, we'll put you in contact with people that can process the paperwork for them and walk them, walk them through everything they need to do.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, another thing is we we get comments back from the public about uh this, that, or the other, and we welcome those, right?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyway we can get feedback uh to try to help us be better, we we appreciate that as well.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: So well, Bill Smiley, thank you so much for what you're doing.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh can't thank you enough for uh helping these people out and getting these applications moving.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh great information today.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, don't be afraid to uh reach out and apply.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: There's still funds that are out there.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: As you heard today, we're hoping to get more uh and bring to Tulsa County and help those that have been in harm's way and get them out of those flood-prone areas.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh TulsaCounty.org is our social media.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for uh joining the Tulsa County line podcast.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_02: We thank Ethan and all our communications teams for getting this set up.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Deputy Chief.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Bill.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: Have a great week.