Scott County commissioner defers to corps on levee integrity

BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County officials are hoping federal legislators will pull them out from between FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger said during the regular Scott County Commission meeting Tuesday that Federal Emergency Management Agency officials have asked him to sign a document that states a levee in the county is structurally sound.

"FEMA is coming out with a new certification on levees. They are coming out with new flood maps," Burger said. "If I don't sign off on that, everybody below a certain elevation will be required to have flood insurance."

Burger said the corps has always maintained the levee from Commerce to the Mississippi County line. He added that he has letters from the corps regarding the Diversion Channel levee and Levee 2, also known as the Birds Point Levee, which he would be happy to submit to FEMA.

"The corps built them, the corps maintains them -- who would have any more expertise?" Burger said. "Who would know more about a levee than the corps of Engineers?"

Burger commended the local levee board for doing important work on a small budget.

Burger said he and the other commissioners are looking into reports that some FEMA regions are accepting documentation from the corps while others are not. They are also working with federal legislators in the hopes of resolving this issue. "We're a targeted county -- not every county is going through this," he said.

Burger said as it stands now, FEMA will designate areas of the county as "flood prone" if they don't receive the signed document by April 21.

"For FEMA to require my signature versus the Corps' findings for 80 years seems absurd," he said. "My signature is not going to keep that levee from breaking."

Burger said he is sure, however, that the Corps is doing all it can to keep the levee from failing and is qualified to submit the documentation FEMA is looking for.