Several weeks ago, 21 News reported FEMA flagged six homes in Trumbull County that are in violation of floodplain regulations after an error occurred under the county in the 90s.

Now, county commissioners are looking for ways to help these people deal with a very costly situation.

The homes in Trumbull County are in violation of floodplain regulations after a recent audit through FEMA was conducted and the agency alerted the county.

The county said these homeowners never received proper permits when they built homes decades ago and are in a floodplain, and now the issue needs to be fixed.

Commissioners said the county should take action to help fund these people.

"I feel that the county is still in a way responsible and that we should be doing what we can to help the families," Commissioner Niki Frenchko said. 

Frenchko said she would like to look into using ARP funds to pay for repair costs or buy the homes back.

"I'm going to have to look into it but the whole thing is like, let's start a conversation and start exploring avenues," she said.

The Trumbull County Planning Commission said they looked into a specific federal grant for these homeowners but because it's a floodplain violation, it does not meet the qualifications and said this leaves the residents in a difficult and expensive situation to go through an appeal process.

Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said:

"These infractions pre-date our entire board and our current planning commission, however, that doesn’t make this situation any easier for all involved.

As the enforcement agents for the county, we need to make sure we are using all means necessary to assist those individuals and families. This can get challenging because we have to demonstrate to FEMA that we are in compliance and maintaining NFIP status.

We’ve retained legal counsel and have had various meetings and sessions. We continue to seek out grants at the federal and state level and work with our partners on meaningful solutions.
 

At the end of the day, however, I’m prepared to assist these individuals in any way possible. If that means looking at alternative local revenue sources, our board needs to take the initiative as I said before."

Commissioner Frank Fuda said that when it comes to using ARP funds, there's a process that has to be followed, beginning with homeowners applying for those funds through the county.