KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Governor Whitmer expanded a State of Emergency Declaration to now include both Kent and Ionia counties, after last week's tornadoes left behind a path of destruction, that's going to cost a lot to clean up.
At 5588 Alpine Ave NW, property owners are able to drop off debris, free of charge. However, the service isn't free to provide, and it is bottom line costs like debris removal that a newly declared State of Emergency in Kent County will cover.
“It’s just a normal progression within the different levels of government to make sure that an emergency that happened right here in Plainfield Township has the attention of all the levels of government to completely address the problem,” Kent County Emergency Management Coordinator Matt Groesser said.
Groesser says Wednesday's declaration is part of the process for government agencies within affected communities to get the financial assistance they need.
“First and foremost, it allows us to seek reimbursement for certain types of government expenses, related to the response the recovery, the clean up if you will of the incident,” Groesser said. “Overtime costs for any of the government workers involved, the police, the fire department had to call the rest of their staff in to respond to the incident, those types of things are included. Certainly, debris management costs"
Money will be used mostly to pay back local government for costs incurred as a result of storm cleanup.
“The payroll for the employees that were involved in that response. Any damage to government property,” Groesser said.
The damage is costly based on early assessments.
“As of last night, we were right around 200 buildings that had been damaged by the storm itself, with a total dollar amount of $4.5 million, that number is likely to increase," Groesser said.
This is just one step away from taking things up another governmental rung to a federal level.
“We have also asked the governor in addition to the two declarations that we already have in place— we’ve asked her for consideration about reaching out to the president and seeking a presidential declaration because there were so many communities in Michigan that were affected,” Groesser said.
Leaders with smaller communities affected, like Alpine Township, say the help is most definitely appreciated.
“We raised our hand and we said it’s time for us to declare that state of emergency," Groesser said.
