“I don’t want to speculate on what we can get, I’d rather wait until we know the facts,” Schnirman said. “I can tell you that FEMA came last week as part of a regularly scheduled visit to work on the reimbursement and recovery, and we wanted to use that opportunity while FEMA was here to introduce them to the new administration.”

Department of Public Works Commissioner Kevin Mulligan said that FEMA officials looked at damage to the boardwalk — which included damaged entrance gates, sidewalks and ramps. Officials also looked at damaged or destroyed fencing that is meant to protect the dunes, Mulligan said.

“There was a great amount of damage to the boardwalk and snow fencing, which protects our Dunes,” Mulligan said. “We lost a great deal of that — we had just replaced it following a previous emergency situation in March 2010.”

Mulligan said that officials evaluated other areas, including Lifeguard Headquarters and the Magnolia playground, as well as the overall cleanup effort in the city.

“The lifeguard shack was the iconic photo of Irene, at least in the metropolitan area,” Mulligan said. “And everyone still wants to see the lifeguard shack.”

Mulligan also said that FEMA is expected to reimburse the city for costs associated with the mandatory evacuation order given before the storm hit. “They’ll probably also reimburse us for a series of Swift 911 calls that we made to alert folks to the storm,” Mulligan said. “It was a positive meeting.”