East Baton Rouge City-Parish Government

The City-Parish Government of East Baton Rouge required assistance and support in the grants management and associated activities for federal and state programs, including primarily, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance Program, the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, and the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant –Disaster Recovery programs following the aftermath of the worst flooding disaster in Baton Rouge’s history in August 2016.

FIRM PROJECT RESPONSIBILITIES

CSRS worked closely and collaborated with various funding agencies and internal City-Parish departments to ensure the proper use and application of federal and state funds. Our team provided critical resources and support for strategies, which were specifically crafted to suit Baton Rouge’s unique recovery needs. The team identified over $70M in reimbursable damages that have been reimbursed by FEMA, including debris removal, force account labor overtime and equipment, other emergency protective measures, fire station repairs, sewer lift station repairs, and roads and bridges repairs. The strategies CSRS developed are designed to maximize the City’s FEMA funding for the fullest recovery possible, identify all storm related damages to help move the City’s current projects to construction, and position the City-Parish going forward for an audit-ready and systematic closeout process.

PROJECT KEY SUCCESS

FEMA approved two separate first appeals prepared by CSRS for the Library Contents and Bridge repair project, totaling an additional $163k in FEMA funding for the City-Parish.

CSRS successfully demonstrated to FEMA that the Fire Department’s (BRFD) emergency fire vehicles were eligible for replacement cost for rather than actual cost value, which resulted in an increase of over $3M in reimbursements.

While the FEMA PA program denied reimbursement of costs for the police department’s costs to escort the transport of disaster required Mobile Housing Units (MHUs) to their designated locations, the CSRS team approached the FEMA Individual Assistance Program and successfully secured $172k in reimbursements for the disaster related activity.

CLIENT QUOTE

“The City-Parish has worked closely with CSRS for the last two plus years. Without reservation, we recommend CSRS for program administrative and management services to any client needing exceptional program management services,” Linda Hunt, Assistant Director of Finance at Baton Rouge City-Parish Government