By Major Jerry Bell, Emergency Manager
Last week, I made contact with a Mr. Brian Smallwood, our debris contractor manager, in reference to the picking up of freezers, refrigerators, and other white good. I received a reply that stated “let’s ask the residents to have all white goods out by the 4th of January 2021 and we’ll have a crew on the 5th picking them up. So, have your white goods out by the curb on the 4th and the debris team will come by and pick up those items. This is important to have your white goods out by the 4th. It is also important to continue pushing out all your debris to the curb. The trucks will move back in after the holidays to get the rest of our debris.
I continue to have daily contact with our FEMA partners and they are processing our paperwork as soon as we send it in. I recently received a message from Mr. Tim Bolt, a FEMA Emergency Management Specialist who stated that our team, especially Ms. Jaime Dyson, are doing outstanding work in getting the right paperwork in to FEMA. I, as the Emergency Manager, have granted to FEMA, Ms. Dyson’s name as being our signing authority in the FEMA Grants Portal. She and Mr. Kurt Ryder are the most responsible and dedicated members of our FEMA team and are doing the hard work and tasking necessary to make sure that DeQuincy is going to receive as much funding as possible to help us get over this crisis. This is not to say that all our team is not working hard but Ms. Dyson and Mr. Rider are carrying the heaviest load. I thank them personally for what they are doing.