Debris removal could cost county

By Adam Koob (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Saturday, April 25, 2009

NATCHEZ — It’s been eight months since Hurricane Gustav blew into Natchez, and Adams County officials are still cleaning up the mess.

At three sites across Adams County, mounds of limbs and storm debris sit dormant as county supervisors wait for word from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency on how to dispose of the debris.

“We can’t do anything until we hear from MEMA,” Adams County Administrator Cathy Walker said.

The county must comply with FEMA and MEMA guidelines for debris disposal to be reimbursed for the work.

Walker said that just after the storm, officials from the FEMA toured the county and instructed county leaders to remove storm debris and store it at staging areas so that it could then be measured and sent to a landfill for disposal.

However Walker said county officials recently learned that FEMA is not willing to pay to have the debris moved for a second time.

“It could have been a miscommunication,” Walker said of the instruction to bring the debris to staging areas.

Walker said the county is now waiting on MEMA for instructions on how to dispose of the debris.

Since MEMA receives and then allocates funding from FEMA, MEMA officials are waiting for confirmation from FEMA on what should be done with the debris.

MEMA public information officer Katherine Gunby said FEMA’s policy does not call for debris to be moved more than once.

Gunby said MEMA officials are currently working with FEMA and county officials to either make an exception to pay to move the debris from the staging area to a landfill or to have the debris turned into woodchips and sold.

Original estimates to move the 36,000 cubic yards of debris placed the job at $600,000.

Moving the debris from the staging areas to a landfill would cost more.

“But no decision has been made for that reimbursement,” Gunby said.

Gunby said MEMA officials are also working with FEMA to determine if the county would have to pay for a contractor should it be determined the debris be turned into woodchips then sold.

The county is exploring renting a chipper and using county workers to do the job, Walker said.

Regardless of how the debris is turned into woodchips, the county would be able to keep the money from the sale.

Supervisors Darryl Grennell and Mike Lazarus both said they were in favor of turning the debris to chips.

“If we can sell it and keep it out of a land fill, that’s what we need to do,” Grennell said.

Gunby said if FEMA won’t pay to have debris moved to a landfill or won’t pay a contractor to turn it into woodchips, the county could be responsible for the costs.

Gunby said she expects an answer from FEMA in the next week.