This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.
Henderson County commissioners Monday night offered thanks and praise for personnel who helped with rescue and recovery efforts amid Tropical Storm Helene — and made sure they would be paid for their work.
The commission unanimously passed a state of emergency ratification, which asserts that county personnel took significant and required actions during the storm and its aftermath, and that all such acts of the county and its staff “including all contracts, resolutions and proclamations” are ratified and affirmed as official and appropriate acts of the county.
The commission also unanimously passed a measure authorizing payment to all county employees for hours worked during the State of Emergency that began Sept. 26. Exempt employees will be paid for hours exceeding standard hours — the county manager is excluded. Commissioners also authorized 20 project positions for county operations related to the disaster.
Commissioner William Lapsley said, “There is an untold, unknown at the moment, amount of unanticipated expenditures that the county's budget is going to have to take care of related to this event — no doubt in my mind in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and perhaps in the millions of dollars ... financially, we can handle this. There's not going to be any crisis in financial management of the county because of it.”
County Manager John Mitchell told the audience that the storm highlighted “the realization of your investment as citizens,” as tax dollars had paid for sheriff’s deputies, paramedics, emergency personnel, equipment and the county’s Emergency Operations Center.
Various agency heads gave post-storm updates. Emergency Services Director Jimmy Brissie recounted how his staff helped perform rescues and open shelters. The 911 call center received more than 4,000 calls throughout the storm period. At the peak of the storm, fewer than 100 of 69,281 electricity customers had power. There were seven fatalities in the county. e
Brissie noted that “We’re moving from a response mode to a recovery mode” and that emergency personnel are now working with FEMA and local partners to provide housing for people displaced by the storm. He alerted residents that beginning today, surveyors from FEMA would start canvassing neighborhoods to see what resources are still needed. “As those folks are going around, they're going to be wearing identification that says FEMA. They're going to be driving vehicles with a windshield placard that says FEMA,” he said.
Door-to-door damage assessments have so far found more than 70 destroyed properties and more than 500 damaged. “And we're just getting started on the documentation. We expect that number to continue to increase,” Brissie said.
Sheriff Lowell Griffin praised his staff, noting that at one point, the 911 system was 15 calls short of having 1000 active calls. Looting had been minimal. “I think a lot of it was panic,” Griffin said —scared people scrambling for essentials.
Henderson County Public Schools Superintendent Mark R. Garrett said that only one school, Atkinson Elementary, was badly damaged and needs new flooring, which will take about two months to complete. He said that schools were aiming to re-open the week of October 14. Athletic practices have already been allowed to resume.
Pardee UNC Health Care President and Chief Executive Officer Jay Kirby said he had “no dramatic stories” but that the storm made clear the need for some backup services currently handled by Mission Hospital — such as stroke care, trauma care and neonatal intensive care. “We need redundancy of tertiary care,” he said.
Other speakers said that workers would continue to restore roads, bridges and utilities.
The commission’s next regularly scheduled meeting is Oct. 16 at 9:30 a.m.
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Commission approves pay for work during Helene; update on finances for storm recovery
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