GULF SHORES, Ala. — Gulf Shores city officials have been preparing this week to make an appeal Tuesday at the FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

After attempting once to reclaim money the city spent to restore the beach after Hurricane Katrina, the city is taking a second and final shot to prove FEMA it deserves reimbursement.

“It’s a part of a formal appeal process FEMA has for everybody who feels that their case has not be adequately dealt with,” said City Administrator Steve Garman, who will be taking the sojourn to the Capitol. “This is the last step in the appellate process.”

The appeal is a fight for $4.5 million the city used to rehabilitate the ravaged beachfront.

Tricky to the case, however, is the timeline of hurricanes that struck the coast.

In 2004, Hurricane Ivan devastated Gulf Shores. In 2005, as the city worked to rejuvenate the beach, Hurricane Katrina struck. Not only did Katrina ruin what work had been done but because of the weak state cause by Ivan, Gulf Shores experienced heavier damage from its winds and storm surge, Public Works director Mark Acreman said.

“We saw a span of sand that was 18 inches to two feet thick over the entire state highway,” Acreman said. “We had to deal with 700,000 cubic yards.”

Acreman and Garman are sure the city’s quick decision to clear the roadways and begin restoration was the right thing to do, and they feel once FEMA takes another look they will see reimbursement is due.

Garman said he thinks the back-to-back storms and overload of claims made to FEMA caused for an inadequate review of the city’s request.

“When you consider the circumstances of what was going on at the time, we’re less than a year a way from Ivan, we’re in the process of restoring from Ivan and we’ve got FEMA all over the coast,” Garman said. “So, there’s all these multitudes of governmental units making claims, and I’m sure they were stretched very thin. In the process, a lot of decisions were made, a lot of things were done where you just have to go back to later.”

FEMA’s first decision denied Gulf Shores $3.5 million. During the city’s first appeal, Garman said FEMA’s misunderstanding of an outsourced job during beach nourishment led to their verdict to take back $1 million they had previously rewarded.

With $4.5 million at stake, a parade of concerned parties will be marching to D.C.

Councilman Phillip Harris, Al Browder, coastal engineer for Olsen Associates, Inc., and Leigh Anne Ryals, director of Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency will join Garman and Acreman.

They plan to meet attorney Ernest Abbott, who the city hired for this appeal, at the Capitol.

Of the 21 claims made to FEMA, the city will only have to appeal one that was not approved. However, the claim constitutes 88 percent of money requested and 37 percent of money spent. Gulf Shores already received $5.5 million for reimbursement of work done after Katrina.

Garman said the missing $4.5 million has not had an affect on the city budget and is outside of the funds for operation. However, he did say in a worst-case scenario, problems could arise with the city’s finances if FEMA does not reward them the money.

The city is still in the claim process with FEMA for Hurricane Ivan.