Readers are suckers for any story with a happy ending. So are we.

Of course, the happy ending dictates that the story starts with a cloud. Our tale this morning begins last spring in the village of Farley, which is home to about 250 Platte County residents.

A heavy May rain washed out a 50- to 75-foot gravel section of the road north of the Schimmel City Access, according to The Kansas City Star. The village needed $10,000 up front for a geotechnical study just to apply for aid for the repairs. Those were initially estimated at $100,000 to $150,000, according to The Star.

The village runs on a roughly $40,000 annual budget. That is a pretty bleak financial cloud.

Community leaders first considered going out of business so that Platte County could take care of the problem. Instead, Congressman Sam Graves read about Farley’s problem in The Star and made a quick call to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Northwest Missouri Republican helped negotiate a cost-sharing agreement with FEMA and the State Emergency Management Agency to help shoulder the costs of the initial study, The Star reports. The agreement called for FEMA to shoulder 75 percent of the cost of a study, SEMA to pay 10 percent and Farley to pay the remainder.

A Farley official told The Star that the new price tag would be much more manageable for the small village. The village is seeking bids on the project, according to The Star. While the study is just the first step needed to win federal or state help, it would open the door to the possibility.

What’s not to love about this story? Small town runs into a problem. Federal bureaucrats complicate the problem. Our congressman reads about the problem in the newspaper and negotiates a solution that works for everyone.

That’s a happy ending.