DECATUR - The last payment from the federal government covering damages of a November 2006 ice storm made it into the hands of city staff late last month, according to a Wednesday news release from the city.

John A. Smith, interim city manager, said the full reimbursement has ensured other city projects don't suffer from a lack of funding.

"The fact that taxpayers of this community received what amounts to full reimbursement for storm-related expenses means that we won't have to draw from other sources to pay for other planned projects that will be of benefit to the community," Smith said.

The storm cost the city more than $1 million in damages, which have over the subsequent years been paid out by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, acting as an agent of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Assistant City Manager Billy Tyus said securing the federal funding required the mayor to declare a local emergency when the storm started.

"We had a meeting with both FEMA and IEMA to go over the requirements for the grant," Tyus said. "They had a local representative who was in town who worked with us on our grant applications and the process."

Besides the $1 million for direct damages, FEMA reimbursed Decatur for an extra $149,000 to cover other operational costs associated with controlling the storm damage, including equipment maintenance, gasoline and "items that may not show up in a line item but for which the city, nevertheless, had to pay," according to the release.

Tyus said city staff worked to make sure federal funding would be forthcoming and received help from federal authorities.

"There was oversight, but they worked very closely with us to make sure we were doing the things we needed to do," Tyus said. "That was very helpful because we'd never had to do that here before."

According to the release, city staff were required to document expenses and work with city council to ensure costs were eligible for reimbursement.

"Everyone worked very hard to make sure that the work we were performing would be covered in an effort to pay for costs associated with this monumental storm," Smith said.

The money went toward reimbursing the city for needed roadway repair, tree limb cleanup and police and fire response.

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