EXETER — A throng of local officials, armed with bills from the December ice storm, packed the Exeter town office yesterday morning for a face-to-face meeting with decision makers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Earlier this month, the president declared New Hampshire a major disaster, clearing the way for communities hard hit by the devastating ice storm to apply for relief from FEMA.
The application deadline is Feb. 2.
FEMA has opened a field office in Portsmouth to assist towns with paperwork and is holding meetings this week to explain the guidelines. Yesterday’s meeting in Exeter was primarily for Rockingham County municipalities.
Empty seats were scarce, as most area cities and towns sent at least one representative to hear Michael Poirier, planning chief with New Hampshire Homeland Security and Emergency Management, explain the guidelines and introduce the FEMA contacts.
The overflow crowd filled the hallway outside the meeting room and spilled down the staircase.
Salem, Atkinson, Plaistow, Hampstead, Danville, Kingston, East Kingston, Newton, and the Sanborn Regional School District all sent representatives.
Inside the meeting room, Sally Theriault, Hampstead’s administrative assistant, stood through the 90-minute session, taking down tips in a notebook balanced on one arm.
“The information was useful,” she said afterward.
Theriault has attended FEMA workshops before, but said she thought this session provided additional help for town officials.
“This was the most comfortable meeting ever with FEMA,” Atkinson Road Agent Edward Stewart said. “Usually, we’re dictated to.”
Stewart and Steve Angelo, Atkinson’s town administrator, joined the many town officials who asked questions about the expenses eligible for FEMA reimbursement.
For example, FEMA will pay overtime for firefighters, police, highway workers and other town employees mandated to stay after their regular shifts to battle the ice storm. But the government will not pay for workers’ time while they were on standby and not doing anything.
Most town officials filled out the basic paperwork on the spot and handed the applications to Poirier.
Next, FEMA will send an inspector to each community to assess the damage.
This is the fourth time since July 24 that FEMA is providing disaster relief to New Hampshire cities and towns, Poirier said.