Damages to the Union County Fairgrounds caused by mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics hosted by the local health department will be paid for with federal funding.
During the Union County Health Department Board of Health meeting Wednesday, the board unanimously accepted $282,785.36 from the Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant.
“That’s what FEMA has allocated for this project,” Health Commissioner Jason Orcena said.
Orcena said the amount is based on evaluations of the damages to the fairgrounds by FEMA’s experts.
UCHD hosted dozens of clinics at the fairgrounds throughout the height of the pandemic and vaccinated more than 25,000 people at no cost to them.
In July 2021, UCHD received an estimate of $282,785.36 from Goodwin Services to repair damages to the fairgrounds.
Orcena explained Wednesday that the dollar amount from Goodwin Services was used as a “basis for communication” with FEMA during the grant application process. From that point, FEMA sent its own “expert evaluators” to determine what the agency felt was the appropriate cost.
While the original estimate was provided by Goodwin Services, the actual project will be completed by the Union County Engineer’s Office.
An estimate prepared by Union County Engineer’s Office Roads Superintendent Justin Story on March 15 indicated the total project cost, including labor, materials and equipment, will be $280,463.74.
“The majority of the expense is materials cost,” Orcena said.
The estimate from Story lists the total materials cost as $219,541.90; the labor as $39,468 and the equipment as $21,452.84.
Although the board approved a transfer of $122,000 in unappropriated funds for the purpose of the fairgrounds project, Orcena emphasized that the entirety of the repairs will be covered by the FEMA grant. He said the federal agency will “backfill” what the health department spends on the project.
“There is no overhead for us,” Orcena explained. “It is all pass-through dollars.”
Board member Wayne Dellinger asked to what extent the roads would be repaired, considering “we never established the pre-existing condition.”
While photos of certain roadways were taken to illustrate damage following the shot clinics, detailed photos were not taken before.
Orcena said the initial condition of the roads “doesn’t play into” the FEMA funding.
He compared their strategy for the fairgrounds project to having a car repaired after it was rear-ended. Even if the fender of the vehicle was rusted before the accident, the mechanic will still replace it with a new fender, not a rusty one, Orcena said.
Additionally, he noted that the Union County Engineer’s Office took “core samples” of various roadways used during the mass vaccination clinics to determine how they should be repaired.
Orcena said the samples indicated that some roads actually were originally asphalt but they were damaged so severely that officials believed they were just chip and seal.
“I think they’re going to have some pretty good roads over there,” said Board member Mark Smith.
The board unanimously approved a resolution that will allow Orcena to enter into an agreement with the Union County Engineer’s Office once a contract is completed and approved by the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.
Board Vice President Gary Bowman said he would prefer to authorize Orcena to sign the contract, rather than waiting for legal review then calling another board meeting, because the grant has strict deadlines.
Orcena noted that FEMA will reimburse 100% of the project cost, up to the grant amount awarded, if the money is spent and the project is completed by June 30.
“Our timeline is very, very tight,” he said.
Officials from the engineer’s office are hoping to start the project in May, and “they feel very confident” they can finish by FEMA’s deadline, Orcena said.