Council creates disaster relief committee in light of spring flooding

By Michelle Poirier

The water level of the Moira River continues to rise last spring. Photo by Riley Maracle.

BELLEVILLE – City council has set up a disaster relief committee to help those affected by this spring’s flooding.

The committee’s responsibilities are to raise and distribute money to citizens whose property was damaged by the disaster.

City clerk Matt MacDonald said that the provincial government, through the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program, may give up to $2 for every $1 raised by the committee.

“All affected property owners were provided a package of information, including information about ODRAP and a claim form to submit to the city for the (committee’s) consideration,” MacDonald told QNet News by email.

The committee consists of five members of the public.

“Members were chosen based on the submission of an application submitted for consideration through a public call for committee members,” MacDonald said.

During Monday night’s council meeting, MacDonald explained what the committee would do to get started:

“The program does have a lot of stages that have to be worked through … The province will send a representative who will chair the initial meeting. They will give all the members a very thick binder to read and one of their first orders of business is to select a chair,” he said.

The disaster relief committee was put together to specifically handle this past spring’s flooding, MacDonald said. Once it has completed its work, the committee will be disbanded.