The Bulloch County commissioners contracted this week to spend up to $3 million with Southern Disaster Recovery, or SDR, for removal of Hurricane Helene debris from waste collection centers and county road right of ways, “piggybacking” on a similar, up to $1 million contract Statesboro City Council made with SDR.

Officials of both local governments hope the expenditure of local tax money will be fully reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA has given a 90-day deadline for the work to be completed for 100% reimbursement, and county officials are setting an initial goal to have limbs and cut up trees removed from the right of ways in about  half that time, by Dec. 1, before evaluating what remains to be done.

The Board of Commissioners approved the county SDR contract during a 4 p.m. Oct. 10 meeting called to replace the board’s regular Oct. 1 meeting, which was cancelled while county administrative offices remained closed in the aftermath of Helene. The storm had roared through the area for hours the night of Sept. 26-27, with sustained winds upwards of 35 mph and gusts well over 60.

At that point, county crews were still trying to overcome the remnants of road damage from torrential rains brought by Tropical Storm Debby Aug. 5-6, as Public Works Director Dink Butler noted in remarks to the commissioners. He also mentioned that regular garbage piled up in the 20 waste collection centers, which have also received yard debris.

“From a county Public Works standpoint, we didn’t have the manpower or the equipment to tackle this project,” Butler said. “Between the rain event from Debby and this debris disaster, this is catastrophic, and we’re trying to chase just getting our roads back in shape and keeping our bulk waste picked up and keeping our centers cleaned up as best  we can.”

At that point in the meeting, the commissioners had already, without discussion, approved both the contract with SDR for the debris removal and a separate contract with Thompson Consulting Services, based in Maitland, Florida. Thompson Consulting is to monitor the debris collection, recording the volumes, times and types of debris removed, conducting field audits and checking SDR’s invoices.  The votes were 5-0 in favor of the contracts, with Commissioner Toby Conner absent.

No-bid contracts

Both of these were single-source, no-bid contracts, a fact one county resident, Ted Redman, pursued in public comments time, which came after the vote. He asked if any other companies had been considered for the contract.

“We piggybacked on a contract with the city of Statesboro, and to my knowledge there aren’t many contractors that do this kind of work, like SDR does, and it’s going to be 100 percent reimbursed by FEMA, if they can complete their duties within the next 90 days,” said County Manager Tom Couch.

After Redman asked how a company would bid on such a contract. Couch said the city government had “created the scope of service” and negotiated it with SDR, and county staff had reviewed the terms and conditions and found them reasonable.

“Because this is a natural disaster, an emergency, and going back even to Tropical Storm Debby, we have the ability to waive the bidding requirements to address the emergency as expeditiously as possible,” Couch said.

County staff members had reached  out  to a couple of other companies before finding Thompson Consulting to do the monitoring work, according to Couch and Butler.

“The others that we had contacted were already committed, and this was their recommendation,” Butler said.

Actual cost unknown

As with the $1 million limit in the city’s contract, the $3 million stated in the county’s contract with Southern Disaster Recovery is a “not to exceed” limit.

Actual fees will be based on various measures of the work done. For example, the fee for removing and hauling debris from right of ways or other public land to a designated site within 15 miles is $7.75 per cubic yard. If debris has to be hauled to a site 15.1 to 30 miles away, the fee increases to $9.25 per cubic yard.

For cutting partially uprooted or split trees that lean over the public right of way, described as “leaners,” the rates are based on the diameter of the tree trunk measured two feet from the base: $115 for a six-inch to 11.99-inch tree, but with higher price brackets for larger trees, up to $595 for a single 48-inch diameter or wider tree. Those are just two examples from a complex schedule of charges.

Established company

SDR, based in Greer, South Carolina, has a 12-year track record doing debris removal for cities and counties in Southeastern states. It also has relevant experience with FEMA and Georgia’s state-level counterpart, GEMA, Bob Jackson, business development representative for SDR, told Statesboro’s mayor and council Oct. 1.

In Georgia as of Oct. 1, the company had contracts with Coffee, Clinch, White, Elbert and Wilkes counties and was waiting on confirmation from six others, according to Jackson. He named other counties and a couple of Georgia cities, Griffin and Newnan, for which SDR has completed past projects.

Statesboro City Council approved its monitoring contract, also with Thompson Consulting Services, during the same Oct. 3 called meeting where the city’s 2024 property tax rate was adopted. A city memo gave a not-to-exceed limit of $300,000 for that contract.

The county’s monitoring contract with Thompson does not state a cost limit. Instead, the fee “will be based on the actual hours of services furnished, plus direct project and travel expenses.” It gives hourly rates for the work of various personnel, such as $47.58 for a debris monitor, $83.59 for a site survey technician and $109.31 for a “grant management consultant I.”

Work starting now

When Butler spoke to the commissioners, he indicated that Couch had already signed the contracts and that work was ready to begin.

“As you know, Mr. Couch signed the emergency contracts for debris gathering and for the monitoring services as required through FEMA as third-party monitoring. …,” Butler said.  “The purpose for this is so that we can get this done within a timely manner.”

SDR was slated to assist the county crews with clearing vegetative debris from the solid waste collection centers, sometimes called convenience centers, beginning Friday and  to start collecting  debris from the road right of ways  Saturday.

“With what they have in town, by the first of the week they hope to have 10 to 11 trucks here to start  servicing this  area, and we’ve got road lists and maps for them to get started,” Butler said.

He urges residents to move their cut-up debris to the roadside right of ways as soon as possible.

“We would like to have all debris from by the road by December 1st, and we will re-evaluate at that time  to see if we need to make an additional  round to collect what’s left,” he  said.

SDR had given a rough estimate that 250,000 cubic yards of debris could be collected countywide in the rural  areas and 50,000 cubic yards within Statesboro, Butler said.

Through easements from landowners, the county has lined up multiple temporary “staging areas,” where the contractor will haul the debris. “In the end, all of this material will be ground” with a tub grinder and hauled away from the temporary staging sites, he said.

Where to put it

Assistant Public Works Director Robert Seamans added a list of pointers for residents.

·       The material to be picked up is “leaf and limb, vegetative materials.”

·       It should be cut up into lengths of six feet or less.

·       “Put it in front of your house, out next to the road but not in the road,” he said.

·       Where the right of way includes a ditch, place debris on the back on the back side of the ditch if possible, to keep it out of the road.

·       SDR and the county will be collecting debris along county-maintained paved roads and county dirt roads, while the state or its contractors will remove waste from state routes.