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and that Ihis meeting would provide information for Hartsburg and Boone County citizens alike who might want to apply for assistance under the program. Miller noted however. thaI many Hartsburg families had already rebuilt their homes. A separate noIe stated Ihat the city council had already begun to contact homeowners whom they suspecIed mighI be pOIenIial candidaIes. It further invited people who mighI be interested to contacI the city council. 7 On January 5, the city council talked to a number of residenrs who were interested in Ihe buyout Commis- sioner Miller.s presence was helpful and necessary because a number of houses in the Hansburg settlement area were actually not in the corporale limits of Ihe town. but in Boone County. She reminded people that the rules of the buyout program stipulated there must be separate applicarions for houses in Boone CounIy and ones in Hartsburg, even though the houses might siI next 10 each other. This meeting made clear the basic rules of the buyout program. and five Hartsburg residents began Ihe application process at the meeIing, along wiIh twelve people whose houses were in Boone CounIy. Al this meeIing. the council- men and Commissioner Miller in- formed the residents Ihat Ihey esti- mated the houses outside of Hartsburg in Boone County were collectively worth S350,000 and those in Hartsburg S 195.000. These would be Ihe values they would fOlWard with the applica- tions. However. they warned the applicants IhaI FEMA' s appraisal might determine the houses to be worth less. John Thomas. a councilman rold applicanrs Ihat Ihe property, if sold, would revert to Ihe city or county. He speculated that the lots. once cleared, might be used as a park or a parking lot for one of the local churches.8 The bUYOUI process became a major news iIem in the Ashland Boone County Joumal. An article from the January 20 issue eXplained that Ihe local officials and the State Emergency Management Agency in Jefferson CiIy were helping residenIS fill in Ihe 404 Hazard Mitigation Grant Application. and although it had been a complicated process. Ihe documents were finished by the January 15 deadline.9 By February 10. the Journal noted thaI..all applications and information have been fOlWarded to Ihe various agencies for consideration on the buyout process. II is now a wait and see attitude for the ... residents affecIed."'lfJ By February 15, the Journal carried the news thaI the Governor's Buyout Review Committee in Jefferson City had recommended funding for three homes in Hartsburg and seven in Boone County. The Governor had accepIed this recom- mendation and had moved the applications on to FEMA. The buildings that did not receive the commillee's approval were businesses IhaI did not qualify for the program; the buyout targeted only primary residential dwellings. Harts- burg Mayor Mike Rodemeyer cau- tioned residents that FEMA still needed to review the applications. However. if Ihey were accepted, and the buildings were tom down. the city council hoped to definitely use one of Ihe lots for a church parking lot, another for a small park nexI 10 Ihe KA TY Trail bicycle path. and the Ihird as a green space between two houses. The Governor recommended a toIal of $100.500 to buy the houses in Hartsburg. and 5221.000 to buy the Boone CounIy homes. I I At that point. the formal assessmenI of the property began. City officials presented the owners with an offer based on Iheir pre-flood assessment of a house's value. minus money Ihat might have been received previously from FEMA or paid out in flood insurance.12 Over the ensuing month. the owners considered and accepted the offers. On February 2, 1995, Mayor Mike Rodemeyer presented each owner with a check.! ] According to Buck Kall. Deputy Director of SEMA. in an interview with the Columbia Missourian. the average price paid was $25.000.14 By May 18. 1995. Hartsburg had contracted with Enoch Construc- tion Company to tear down the four houses at a total cosI of $23,400. wiIh demolition to start by May 27.15 Ironically the demoliIion had 10 be delayed until June I. On May 25. Ihe Hartsburg area flooded again. Happily most of the town was safe behind the next levee Ihat the Corps of Engineers had compleIed in September 1994, buI twelve houses. whose owners had decided not to participate in Ihe buyout. sustained minor damage from water. 16 j ~ ~ Broken flood control levee Page 35