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<br /> <br />Commissioners contracted with Mer- <br />amec Hauling 10 collect and haul <br />away debris throughout the county.6 <br /> <br />These clean up effurIs also <br />caused county and municipal officials <br />in Jefferson County to think abouI <br />prevention. In fact, as early as the <br />Hillsboro conference on July IS, <br />Elizabeth Faulkenberry. had broached <br />the topic of a possible bUYOUI of <br />houses. along the Meramec and <br />Mississippi Rivers. as a means of <br />minimizing future tlood damage.7 <br /> <br />The buyout idea quickly <br />became a "hot" topic throughout the <br />counIy. On September 10, aI the Festus <br />CiIy Hall, county officials as well as <br />officials from Cryslal City and FesIus <br />held a meeIing with SEMA officials to <br />discuss various kinds of relief. A <br />buyout was at the top of Ihe list. <br />Commissioner Faulkenberry and Fes- <br />tus City AdminisIrator Rick Turley <br />were both interested. SEMA officials <br />eXplained thaI the buyout option was <br />available only 10 tlood victims, and <br />that, while the buyOUI program would <br />pay the pre-tlood value of a home. the <br />counIy or municipaliIy would have to <br />secure a 25% match. <br /> <br />After the meeting, Turley <br />told reporters that perhaps Festus <br />could seek a community development <br />block grant 10 pay its share. buI "it <br />was unclear if a town could use Ihat <br />for its share." Mayor Clifford Bins of <br />Crystal City said that he would not <br />seek a buyout. although 30 to 40 <br />individual homeowners In Crystal <br />City had asked for one.8 <br /> <br />Following that meeting. Ihe <br />concept of a bUYOUI attracIed more <br />attenIion. CiIizens of Arnold encour- <br />aged Ihe idea. Arnold, the largest <br />town in Jefferson County had been <br />actively interesIed in the buyout <br />option for over a decade. Over one- <br /> <br />half of Ihe 65 buildings in the Arnold <br />tloodplain had been bought out since <br />the US governmenI first initiated a <br />buyout program in 19S0. The cleared <br />land toIaled 400 acres and had been <br />Iurned into a green way made up of <br />wildlife and recreation areas. Eric <br />Knoll. Arnold City AdminisIrator. <br />saw the tlood of '93 as an opportunity <br />to continue the buyOUI policy Ihat he <br />felt would eliminate the tlood <br />problem for Arnold completely. He <br />had plans to remove more than 200 <br />houses and mobile home pads from <br />the tloodplain.9 <br /> <br />WiIh this endorse men I, other <br />Jefferson County ofticials and resi- <br />dents were bound to be inIerested. At <br />first, FEMA officials gave little <br />encouragement. In an interview wiIh <br />the SI. Louis Post Dispatch, Stephen <br />Harrel, a FEMA official from Kansas <br />CiIy explained. . . [that a] "buyout <br />will come slowly,". . . . [He was] "con- <br />cerned that a whole 101 of people are <br />getting their hopes up for something <br />Ihat may not materialize,"' <br /> <br />Harrel did. however, correct <br />the false impression that only home- <br />owners with tlood insurance could <br />apply for Ihe program. He c1aritied <br />that ;t was possible for uninsured <br />homeowners to participaIe too. He <br />also cited Arnold as "the region's <br />bUYOUI expert,"' because it had gotten <br />"federal aid for three tloodplain <br />buyOUIS in Ihe last decade,". Of <br />course. when Ihe Post interviewed <br />Harrel on September 20. he was <br />speaking of the tlood buyout program <br />that was already in place. Representa- <br />live Harold Volkmer.s bill had noI yet <br />been inIroduced to Congress. 10 <br /> <br />Even in the wake of this <br />discouraging announcement. Ihe buy- <br />ouI idea continued to grow. especially <br />when newspapers began to carry <br />accounts of the progress of Volkmer's <br /> <br />bill through Congress. Encouraged by <br />the possibility of Ihe bill"s passage. <br />Jefferson County. Festus. and Crystal <br />City began surveys of tlood-damaged <br />property within their boundaries in <br />anIicipation of the bill.s passage into <br />law. When President Clinton did sign <br />the bill on December 2. people in <br />Jefferson County were ready to <br />participaIe.ll <br /> <br /> <br />In FesIus. Rick Turley had <br />compiled a list of 25 possible buyout <br />properties as early as November 5. II <br />included houses in Ihe viciniIy of <br />South 4th Street and South Adams <br />and esIimated Ihe city would need <br />$S94,OOO to buy the homes and <br />$100.000 to tear them down.12 <br /> <br />Jefferson CounIy also had <br />identitied 554 SIrucIures in unincor- <br />poraIed areas of the county thaI mighI <br />be buyout candidates. Tabulation of <br />the positive responses to a question- <br />naire sent 10 the owners of these <br />properties revealed IhaI 106 properly <br />owners of 266 of the structures might <br />be interested. The questionnaire also <br />revealed thaI only 22 of those 106 <br />owners had tlood insurance. Many of <br />the strucIures. Ihe documenIs re- <br />vealed. had been repeatedly damaged <br />over the last decade by tlooding. <br /> <br />The specific sites included <br />mobile homes at Covered Bridge <br />Mobile Home Park in the northeasI <br />corner of the county; 41 houses and <br />10IS in the River Bend Subdivision <br />near Ihe Big River; trailer homes aI <br />the Blue Bell Mobile Home Park off <br />Old Highway 141; and 19 other <br />properIies scattered throughout the <br />counIy. The estimated cost of the <br />buyout was $3.5 million. <br /> <br />Although Crystal City's May- <br />or. Clifford Bins. had earlier indicaI- <br />ed his town would not parIicipate, <br />some residents had been insistent. <br /> <br />Page 39 <br />