Disaster Recovery

Providing Guidance, Implementation, and Project Management for Communities impacted by Hurricanes Ike and Dolly since 2009.

NOAA, NASA 2008

FEMA 2008

Example Experience:

Project Manager for Hurricane Ike and Dolly, and Bastrop Wildfire HUD Funded Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery

Mr. Howell was the Project Manager for the Hurricane Ike, Dolly and Bastrop Fires Texas Disaster Recovery Program consisting of an estimated 6,000 non-housing (infrastructure) projects in a 62 county area that includes over 300 grantees (cities, counties and special districts) spanning 62,000 square miles of Texas with a program value of $1.4 billion, Cimagaroon Howell was a project manager assisting in management of a team of 52 design engineering firms, eight environmental service providers and 30 grant administrators to deliver Texas’ disaster response to Hurricane Ike, Dolly, and Bastrop Fires. Mr. Howell managed the environmental review records and NEPA compliance efforts, engineering design, design reviews, construction oversight, project closeout, invoice processing and provided technical assistance to the communities impacted by those disasters. This was then and is still the largest public works program in Texas history. Mr. Howell began his work in September of 2009.

Kelley 2008

NOAA 2008

Project Management Highlights:

Reviewed grant applications and coordinated with the communities to ensure an efficient delivery of DR funds to communities affected by Hurricane Ike, and Dolly.

Provided Environmental Oversight to ensure all projects are in compliance with all state and federal program requirements.

Developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Application Review, Community Outreach, Environmental Oversight, Engineering Oversight, and Construction Oversight.

Worked alongside Texas General Land Office (GLO) staff and coordinated with the Texas Historical Commission (THC) to develop a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) exempting many projects from THC review.

Numerous projects in Chambers County were in danger of being canceled,potentially requiring the County to pay back millions of dollars in Disaster Recovery Funds due to high costs associated with USACE permitting and/or property acquisition. Per HUD rules, if a construction project is not constructed, the grantee or responsible agency is required to pay back grant funds. Chambers County had already moved well into design and paid
engineering firms for their services. Mr. Howell identified an option to convert the projects to planning studies. By converting the projects to planning studies, Chambers County was able to pay for design activities completed without having to pay back grant funds.