A month after storms and tornadoes hit Bowdon, the city is preparing to collect reimbursements from both its insurance company and from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Bowdon City Manager Danny Mabry said the city’s insurance company, Georgia Interlocal Risk Management Agency, has offered a settlement of $240,944.75, which Mabry called a “generous sum,” to compensate for the money lost when the city’s public works building was destroyed last month.

Though no final decision has been reached on whether a new public works building will be constructed or if public works employees will simply be moved to another location, Mabry said that the latter is the more likely possibility.

“We’re looking at existing buildings that we will relocate public works to,” he said.

Mabry said that the city is continuing to assess equipment that was damaged during the storm. Some of the equipment will be repaired, but some may have to be replaced. Mabry said that GIRMA may offer further settlements for equipment.

Bowdon also became eligible for monetary reimbursement from the federal government when it was declared a federal disaster area last month. Mabry is currently compiling a log of hours worked by Bowdon police officers and public works employees in storm-related safety and clean-up efforts. Public works employees are still working to clear debris not collected by the Georgia Department of Transportation through this week and possibly next week as well. Mabry said that employees are keeping track of the hours logged while using equipment such as backhoes, chain saws and lawn mowers so that he can compare it to FEMA’s cost index for equipment use during disaster relief.

“Depending on the final settlement of all our insurance claims, we may be in the position to make additional claims for equipment and relatable items,” he said.

Mabry has compiled a list of about $15,000 for which he plans to seek reimbursement, but he said that number will rise in the coming weeks. He plans to submit a request to FEMA by Wednesday of next week but said that additional man hours and equipment hours may be added to the total at a later date.

“There’s some pretty big items in terms of equipment and other things that were lost,” he said.

“We’ll have to see how the insurance settlement goes before we know how much we’ll be asking for from FEMA.”