On Saturday August 15, Mayor Robert A. Sabosik, Council President Antoinette “Toni” DePaola and the Sunshine Harbor Property Owners Board of Trustees hosted an information meeting with Stop-FEMA-Now’s George Kasimos at the fire station on Memorial Drive.

“The review pFEMA 2rocess has been flawed since day one,” Mayor Sabosik said. “FEMA is willing to re-open and review cases, but the catch is that the review needs to be requested.”

Mayor Sabosik and Council President DePaola, along with George Kasimos, of Stop-FEMA-Now, were on hand to inform residents about the deadline to reopen their flood insurance (NFIP) claims which is fast approaching – September 15 to be exact.

Mayor Sabosik insisted residents reopen claims if they were not satisfied with the amount of money received from their insurance companies.

“You can request a review of your flood insurance claim through FEMA,” Mayor Sabosik said. “I understand you’re tired of filling out form after form, but this is important.”

The Mayor and Council President discussed a previous conference call in July with U.S. Senator Menendez, Deputy Associate Director at FEMA, who is also the head of FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program, Roy White and other Shore Mayors abouFEMA 1t the claims review process.

During the call, Mayor Sabosik, insisted that people are fatigued from the endless forms and told the Senator, “We need guarantees that if a Sandy victim reopens their claim, there will be a reasonable chance they can get more money.  We don’t want people going through something that will ultimately prove pointless, they’ve suffered enough.”

Senator Menendez and staff insisted that they are working to make the review process simpler and discussed with Mayor Sabosik their efforts in getting the deadline pushed back to December 15 from September 15 to give people more time.

Residents who want to reopen their claims should call 1-866-337-4262.  Residents that need help in understanding or navigating the review process were encouraged to call the Ocean County Long Term Recovery Group at 732-569-3484.

At the meeting, George Kasimos of Stop FEMA Now pointed out the Borough of Point Pleasant is one of the only towns going the extra mile to help Sandy victims right now and fighting the flood maps.

“Mayor Sabosik is committed to doing what is necessary to fight these maps,” Mr. Kasimos said. Council President DePaola then told residents to call the Borough Engineer, Ernie Peters of Remington Vernick & Vena, at 732-286-9220 for more information and assistance.

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