UPDATE: Congressman Ed Whitfield agrees to meet with Fiscal Court and members of the public about FEMA flood maps

by Matt Hughes

J-E News Editor

While members of the Webster County Fiscal Court were discussing controversial Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) flood maps on Monday, February 10, Judge Executive Jim Townsend was in Washington meeting with legislators.

The result of those meetings,  according to Magistrate Tony Felker, is that Congressman Ed Whitfield has agreed to come to Webster County on Wednesday, February 19 to meet with the Fiscal Court and members of the public.

Last year FEMA introduced new flood plain maps for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Other states have already had the maps implemented or are in the process of doing so. 

On Monday, a congressional delegation from Massachusetts asked that FEMA suspend and amend new flood maps across their state.

Until someone at a higher level of government does something to right the wrong, Webster County officials have their hands tied.

“If we don’t accept them and we have a big flood in Webster County, we aren’t going to be protected by FEMA,” Felker said.  “We wont get any FEMA assistance for our roads or our residents.” 

Residents of Providence who drew FEMA money following the 2002 tornado understand just how important those funds are, but not adopting the maps means that FEMA will withhold the money.

Lyon and Trigg Counties both faced similar circumstances last year when they reviewed their maps. Both of those counties chose to reject them, regardless of the consequences.

“If we were part of that, we felt that we were giving the maps validity,” Wade White, the Lyon County Judge Executive.

White said that he was initially in favor of adopting the FEMA maps because doing so would help some residents get cheaper flood insurance. But his opinion quickly changed.

“After we decided to join this program, people started getting letters telling them that they had to buy flood insurance up on Lake Barkley,” said White. “FEMA mapped in 70 to 80 homes that are higher than the dam.”

Those counties have recently won a small victory by getting FEMA to agree to redo the maps in Trigg and Lyon Counties.

At Monday’s meeting, several members of the public voiced their concern over the maps, reporting that they had already received bills for their flood insurance even though the county has yet to adopt the maps.

“The fiscal court has no control over the insurance,” magistrate Tony Felker said. “But we can work with our congressmen, and I think it would benefit all of you to call your congressman as well.”

Congressman Whitfield will be at the Webster County Courthouse in Dixon on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m.

For more on the story:

Fiscal Court hears from resident on FEMA flood maps

Two of the areas in question include Sebree, pictured above, 

and Clay, below.

School Board hears Trane update

by Matt Hughes

J-E News Editor

The Webster County School Board heard from representatives of Harshaw Trane on Monday night.

On September 4, 2012 school board officials entered into a twenty year contract with the Lexington based Trane for a performance-based guaranteed energy savings project. The contract included many energy and maintenance saving technologies and techniques and guaranteed an annual savings of $108,023. 

The guaranteed savings program was designed to allow Webster County Schools to defer a large amount of the project’s cost by generating savings from the operating budget and use those savings to pay for the agreed upon improvements. The total cost of the project was $2.9 million, $98,000 of which was bonded.

“When we started this process two years ago the main focus was updating Sebree Elem HVAC,” said Ernie Tacogue, K-12 Market Leader for Trane. “We had to find enough energy savings so that over time it would pay for the HVAC.”

Among the problem areas he said they noted in there initial assessment were Sebree’s HVAC which had been installed primarily in 1986, control issues in other schools, outdated lighting technologies and excessive water consumption.

The new systems installed by Trane include a web based control system, accessible by facilities manager Dennis Parrish and the school’s Trane representative based in the Lexington office. 

“You can control your HVAC from one central location,” said Tacogue. “If you can manage that, you can manage 60% of your energy savings.”

The system also allows the operator to monitor the usage of electricity and gas in real time. Tacogue said that this would allow them to identify peak usage times and adjust things like the HVAC to bring down the utility cost.

Tacogue said it was a bit like continually “fine tuning” each facility.

Another bonus, he told the board, was that the system constantly monitors the temperature of all of the districts refrigerators and freezers. If they raise to an unsafe level it automatically notifies Parrish and Trane.

“We will meet on a quarterly basis and show you where you are,” said Curt Barrett,  Webster County’s Trane representative.