Bulloch County commissioners Monday night unanimously approved the reappropriation of up to $5 million, with the first 75% to come from T-SPLOST, for a “rapid response plan” to restore the county’s roads, particularly its dirt roads, to pre-storm condition after the historic level of damage caused by Tropical Storm Debby last week.

That means $3.75 million would come from Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenue, ordinarily used along with state grants for paved road resurfacing, first-time paving projects and road equipment purchases. The other 25%, or as much as needed up to $1.25 million, would come from the county’s general fund reserve, making its description as a “rainy day fund” almost literal.

“With T-SPLOST, it may be likely that we have to push back projects in the Capital Improvements Program, but we’re doing it in favor of expediting the process of fixing our roads because, you know, the local economy and the safety and the access for everybody depend on it,” said County Manager Tom Couch.

He summarized financial aspects of the plan after Dink Butler, director of the county government’s Public Works Division, reviewed the extent of the road damage – so far as it was known – and laid out the working strategy behind the “rapid response plan.”

Instead of using county crews and machinery alone to rebuild dirt roads while applying for federal and state disaster reimbursement grants – if those even become available this time – the strategy is to use county cash to enlist private help.

“Please note Public Works still has 14 vacant positions,” Butler told the commissioners. “Our rough estimates based on experience – Idalia is the more recent – indicate that if we try to manage this with our current workforce, we are projecting a year or more to get our roads back to pre-storm conditions.”

A third of the time

So, to pare the time required down to a third or a quarter of a year, he hopes to hire perhaps three or four earthmoving contractor firms to do about 75% of the work, rebuilding dirt roads from their foundations up to pre-storm elevations. The county will furnish materials and apply Georgia Emergency Management Agency rates for equipment usage and Georgia Department of Transportation rates for labor, at least in cost estimates. County staff will inspect each stage of the work.

County crews, working with the current Public Works budget, will do about 25% of the work, including road contouring and final grading, Butler said.

“We hope to cut our time frame on getting these roads re-established back to pre-storm conditions to maybe 90 to 120 days,” he said.  “This is not a short-term fix. This is an extended process. This was a catastrophe for us.”

During the same rescheduled Board of Commissioners meeting, the commissioners approved a $547,801 contract for installation of drainage structures and restoration of a section of Brannen Pond Road, now closed for a year since it was damaged by Hurricane Idalia. That followed an engineering consultant study and lining up of Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, and state GEMA reimbursement.

Other damage

Tropical Storm Debby caused less damage from wind and fallen tree than Idalia, but flooding and road erosion and damage was deeper and more widespread. Slow-moving Debby’s rains lingered in the area for nearly three days.

County Public Works learned of only 78 trees down, a “minimal issue,” and that sort of cleanup will probably cost less than $100,000, Butler said.

But among Bulloch County’s 574 paved roads and 524 listed dirt roads, there were 91 roads closed entirely or in part at the peak during the storm, he reported.

Of the 524 dirt roads, 172 were made “passable at this point,” but there were 21 roads or road sections that remained closed as of Monday afternoon.

“There are still some roads that we have not put eyes on yet, some in the more remote, less populated areas,” Butler said.

He and Assistant Public Works Director Robert Seamans said the county staff planned to complete an initial look at all of the roads Tuesday.

County Engineer Brad Deal reported that 13 bridges had been closed in Bulloch at various times during the storm and its aftermath but that they were being reopened after completing GDOT inspections. Four remained closed Monday, with one of the four expected to reopen Tuesday.

The collapsed box culvert on Nevils-Denmark Road and three drainage pipe washouts were the cause of other remaining closures of segments of paved roads.

During the storm, 11 “swift water” rescues, mainly involving first-responders in boats, removed more than 80 people from homes and cars in Bulloch, reported county EMA Director Corey Kemp.

But Public Safety Director Randy Tillman, who led off the commissioners’ update, sounded a positive note.

“The brightest piece of information about this storm is that God saw fit to spare the citizens of Bulloch County from suffering and death,” Tillman said. “There was no loss of life attributed to Tropical Storm Debby in Bulloch County.”