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ALPENA — City of Alpena will have 75% of their ice storm recovery expenses covered by the federal government.

On Monday, the Alpena Municipal Council met to discuss various orders of business which included updates to the city’s eligibility for Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA) money. Rachel Smolinski, City of Alpena city manager, told the council that Alpena is only eligible to receive $246, 246.82 of the $50 million that was awarded by the federal government in July.

In October, FEMA denied Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s appeal for additional disaster relief.

At the meeting on Monday, Smolinski stated that herself, City Engineer Steve Shultz, and Fire Chief Rob Edmonds met with FEMA representatives in September for a “recovery scoping meeting.”

“This meeting started the 60-day clock for us to complete submission of documentation for reimbursement,” Smolinski said.

Smolinski explained that the city is now in the next phases of the reimbursement process and are required to submit documentation to receive funding.

“We’ve been providing them with some additional documentation and now we’ve gotten to the point where we’re in their emergency management grants portal and need approval,” Smolinski said.

Smolinski added that the main incident period for reimbursement is March 28 to 30, “although we know the recovery took much longer than that.”

She stated that there are two categories of recovery reimbursement for which the city is eligible. Category A includes debris removal.

“We utilized contract labor and equipment to remove vegetative debris and restore safe access and public safety,” Smolinski said.

She stated that the city is eligible for $193, 746.48 of FEMA funding under Category A.

Next, Smolinski explained that Category B includes emergency protective measures that were implemented during the ice storm.

Smolinski stated that any emergency operations, the warming shelter, their Water Utility emergency response, and staff overtime during the ice storm are included under Category B funding.

For these recovery efforts, Smolinski said that the city is eligible to receive $134, 582.43 of FEMA funding.

At the meeting, Smolinski requested a motion from the council to accept the FEMA Public Assistance Grant Program Agreement and to allow her to complete and submit relevant documents required for the next steps of the reimbursement process. Smolinski stated that she is unsure of the time frame to which the city will actually receive their reimbursement funds.

“I’m not really sure about the timeline on receiving those funds,” Smolinski said. “This is all a new process for us.”

Smolinski told The News in an email that during the ice storm, the city “expended what was needed to keep city services intact and maintain public health and safety.”

She added that the city will likely not be reimbursed for the 25% they are not eligible for by FEMA.

“The impact was spread over various funds including water, sewer, streets, and the general fund depending on the expense,” Smolinski explained.

Looking ahead, Smolinski said that projects and services this fiscal year “may be adjusted” or funds in the fund balance will be used to cover the cost not reimbursed by the FEMA grant.

Smolinski added that any funds that the city receives from the FEMA grant are only for costs that the city has already incurred during the emergency response period resulting from the 2025 March ice storm.

She said that the funds cannot be “distributed to a third party.”

Smolinski stated that most city properties were cleaned up by early summer but many trees sustained “substantial damage.”

She added that the city is still in the process of evaluating the damage though they are using funding from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Urban and Community Forestry Inflation Reduction Act grant program, for $160,000, to complete a tree inventory.

“This will go a long way in the recovery of our city forest after the ice storm,” Smolinski said.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.