The cleanup effort is well underway after last week’s tornado in Dexter.
Steve Feinman, a trustee for Dexter Township, says volunteers have been incredibly helpful, and the township has hired a contractor to help with the cleanup.
Rather than wait to see if the state will send disaster relief funds, the township has gone ahead and allocated $200,000 from its own budget to help residents "remove trees and branches and shrub material that was damaged." Fineman says residents can bring those materials to the edge of the roadside for pickup.
"You can’t wait for a state declaration to make sure your main thoroughfares are open, or people can get out of their houses and have their utilities back, so it’s a necessary thing," explains Fineman.
A state of emergency hasn’t been declared for Dexter after last week’s tornado, according to State Police.
If a local emergency is declared and state assistance is requested, Dexter could be eligible for one time funding up to $30,000 or 10 percent of its operating budget. The money would cover public costs incurred, not private damage.
The state did send state troopers to the area after the tornado hit; that can be done without an emergency declaration by the Governor.
The tornado damaged roughly two hundred homes throughout Dexter.
