Disaster recovery jobs program cleans up after flood, creates jobs

BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County officials say the Missouri Disaster Recovery Jobs Program offered through the Workforce Investment Board has been helpful for the county.

"This has been a very, very beneficial program for Scott County's road infrastructure," said Jamie Burger, presiding commissioner. "We were able to do things that we probably would have never got done had it not been for this program. We were able to get debris cleaned up, washouts stacked with riprap -- it has made our roads and roadsides safer for the traveler."

Funded by a National Emergency Grant through the Workforce Investment Act from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Missouri Division of Workforce Development, the program specifically targeted the mess left by spring 2011 flooding.

Eligible projects included debris removal, humanitarian assistance and the restoration of public areas damaged in the event leading to the official disaster declaration.

"I don't think there was a road not impacted by the floods and I don't think there was a road that went untouched by the ... employees," Burger said.

Recruitment and all the screenings were conducted by the Missouri Career Center with the top priority being to employ displaced workers while the secondary priority was to put the long-term unemployed back to work.

"The Workforce Investment Board paid all salaries and furnished all the equipment," said Norman Brant, superintendent of the county highway department. "This program was set up that they would work 1,040 hours. Once their time was up, they were transferred out and a new group came in."

During the course of the program, 35 participants have worked for his department for varying lengths of time, Brant said.

"Some finished early to go to other jobs," he said, "but most of them finished their six months time in the program here."

WIB's investment in the county through the program has been significant.

"They have spent in wages alone $245,000," Brant said.

As of May 17, the county has benefited from 21,875 man hours it didn't have to pay for, he said.

"The program will be over with the second week of June," Brant said.

As WIB also equipped the workers, the county received about $37,000 worth in pickup truck rentals.

"And they've supplied us with over $10,000 of equipment that they have donated to the county," Brant said. "Items like chain saws, Weed Eaters, shovels, wheelbarrows -- stuff we used for flooding issues."

All the assistance came when the county needed it most, Brant said.

"At the time we were trying to fix flooding problems, trying to sandbag, and we had already started our asphalt program," Brant said. "We were facing a dilemma: fix washed-out roads or do our asphalt work? Then Commissioner Burger came to me with this program and said we would get up to seven people at a time."

Joel Boon of Benton said he was advised about the WIB program by the Career Center in July 2011, the same month the program started putting participants to work.

Almost a year later, in May 2012, Josh Sullivan of Jackson was informed of the opportunity.

Boon started his first job through the WIB program working for the city of Morehouse, Mo.

"I was there for three months, then things pretty much wrapped up and moved over here," he said.

The Scott County Highway Department was Sullivan's first job through the program.

Both are now regular full-time employees of the county.

Having worked the maximum allowed hours in the program, Boon was hired as a regular, full-time employee of the department Feb. 16, 2012, and Sullivan on March 4 this year.

"I like it a lot," Boon said. "Everybody's nice, and we have a good boss."

Brant described the men as "great additions" to an already solid team.

"This program has let me see what I was getting ahead of time," he said. "These two employees stood out head and shoulders above the rest [of workers in the WIB program] as far as abilities."

Pertinent address:

Benton, MO