BOARD02588

• Board Meeting Date: 5/24/1999
• Description: Directors' Reports
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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Colorado Water Conservation Board
Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX, (lOll 866-4474

STATE OF COLOMDO

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Bill Owens
Governor

MEMORANDUM

CregE. Walcher
Executive Director, D."R
Peter H, Evans
Director. (WeB

TO:

Colorado Water Conservation Board Members

Peter EvanS?cJ...,. ~
Larry Lang

FROM:

DATE:

May 20,1999

SUBJECT: Presidential Disaster Declaration for Flooding in Larimer, Weld, EI Paso, Otero
and Bent Counties

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On May 4, 1999 Governor Owens declared a state of disaster emergency effective April 29,
1999 in response to flooding. The Governor's Executive Order (D 003 99):
. activated the National Guard,
. authorized the expenditure from the State Disaster Emergency Fund,
. ordered the holding of funds currently in the State Disaster Emergency Fund beyond the
end of the state fiscal year, and
. directed the Director of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) to seek federal
disaster emergency funding.

On May 17, Governor Owens amended that Executive Order to suspend normal
procurement requirements, procedures for obtaining temporary employees, and leave retention
requirements for state employees. Also on May 17, President Clinton issued a disaster declaration
for five Colorado counties which experienced flooding between April 28, 1999 and May 3,1999.
Two northeastern counties (Larimer and Weld) and three southeastern counties (El Paso, Otero and
Bent) are included in the declaration. The federal declaration provides immediate coverage for
"individual assistance", which includes financial and recovery assistance to individuals and
families. Approval of Governor Owens' request for "public assistance", which would include
assistance to local governments and quasi-governmental not-for-profit agencies is pending review
by the White House at this time.

Response to the flooding and these disaster declarations will require a significant effort by .
our staff. The first commitment we have given is to make Mark Matulik (Floodplain Management
Section) available as the Hazard Mitigation Officer (HMO) for the disaster. In this capacity, Mark
will lead the state's mitigation response in the specified counties. He will be responsible for