70 



All during the initial phases of this disaster the county office 

 was continually being besieged with reguests for information and 

 estimates. Every individual whether staff or committee member was 

 under extraordinary pressure to put their lives back together much less 

 meet deadlines from Washington for estimates. In the future, more 

 credence & confidence should be placed in local and state county 

 offices. To second guess producers & staff who have intimate knowledge 

 of their industry is counter productive. 



In the administration of the various programs, debris cleanup, 

 irrigation repair, tree assistance and disaster payment (crop loss) the 

 county office grew from a staff of 7 pre-Andrew to as much as 44 

 workers. Obviously there was a steep learning curve for all involved. 

 Some inconsistencies developed with the day to day administering of the 

 numerous programs. Input should be requested from county Executive 

 Directors and program assistants for ideas and recommendations to 

 streamline and avoid gaps in the system. 



Support for the local ASCS office at times was lacking. I 

 personally reiterated to Washington ASCS a request from the county 

 office for 2 'PC type computers to calculate payments. These were 

 needed to streamline the uploading of data to Kansas City for payment 

 determinations under the Disaster Assistance Program. I requested 

 these computers on September 8th in conversation with numerous ASCS 

 administrators. To this date the local office has not received all the 

 computer components in working order. This has placed a harsh and 

 undue burden on not only the local ASCS staff but the county committee 

 as well. Working in the private sector, it is unconscionable that a 



