Refugee Planning

There has been a lot of talk concerning hurricane refugees coming to Concordia. Much of what I have heard is they are coming, then they are not.

What continues to be important is the people of Concordia have a "heart" for these people. Everyone is grateful for that.

During the weekend, I was asked to have water turned on for the Beverly Health Center. Since it has not operated during the period I have been City Manager, it is not a place I have thought about. Well, some one did. It needed cleaning. I have heard there were large groups of church people donating time to get the facility ready to accept people.

I received an email today from one of my City Manager friends in New Mexico that put the past week's effort in perspective and it makes good sense with what these folks are doing here in Concordia.

The point of the email is that FEMA is not a first responder. It is not the responsibility of the Federal government to be first on the scene fixing things for communities that have endured the effects of a devastating storm like Hurricane Katrina. It is the responsibility of the local community to first assess the problem and, if necessary, call for state and Federal assistance.

There is a specific protocol for asking for aid. Locals assess the situation and ask the County Commissioners to declare an emergency. State aid can then be called in and if the damage can be valued high enough - something like a fixed percent of the statewide assessed value (I am fuzzy on this part) the Governor can ask for a Presidential declaration of emergency. All this is part of the community's emergency management plan.

I heard Larry Blochlinger say today at Chamber Coffee that when a tornado hit is ranch, there wasn't enough damage to declare an emergency where he could get government aid. What did happen is that neighbors came by the droves to help. In New Orleans, there are no neighbors to help - everyone was affected. Well, yes there are neighbors - they are called Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia....

So the response here is much like the Pharisee in the bible who asked "who is my neighbor?" In Concordia, these folks have names who are trying to express compassion for the losses our fellow Americans in Louisiana are suffering. They are trying to help by providing a little relief.

Now the hard part of really organizing local efforts is kicking in. Thursday evening, leaders of the various service providers will gather to develop a plan to assist our neighbors.

So, what if these refugees do not show up? The effort is not wasted, No not by a long shot. If we had a disaster here, we have just identified all the social service providers that will be important in responding to a local disaster. From the City side, we can clean up street of debris. I now have another element to our community disaster plan that wasn't available before.

This is a great opportunity we have to place Concordia on the "caring" map and demonstrate what it is like to live in a small rural community. The best part is we see the exercise of community in its best form.