NATCHEZ — After months of cost assessment and deliberation, Adams County is chipping away at debris left from Hurricane Gustav.

After the process of comparing the cost of contractors presented by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Mississippi Emergency Agency, the county opted to work with MEMA’s suggested contractor.

Supervisor Darryl Grennell said last week he was notified that the chipping of the 38,000 cubic yards of debris had begun and was getting off to a fast start.

“The monitor from MEMA informed me last Friday that they were over 50 percent complete.”

Adams County Administrator Cathy Walker said the grinding process is within days of being completed.

The agreement was set up by the county through MEMA and was based on the volume of the debris.

Walker said it will cost $17,500 to clear up to 6,500 cubic yards of the area and every cubic yard outside of the initial 6,500 will be charged at the rate of $700 an hour.

Walker said this is a better deal than others presented to the county earlier this year.

“It could have cost a lot more to chip with another company,” she said.

The county will be reimbursed for the expense of grinding and shipping the chips to the mills, but Walker said the shipping process will take longer than anticipated.

“The mills are only accepting two loads of chips from a contractor per day,” she said.

Walker said one of the reasons for this regulation set by the mills is the state of the economy.

After finding out about the mills’ two-load a day policy, Walker said she has asked for a 60-day extension that will give the county time to clear the debris area without penalty.

Grennell said that while the contractor will be able to sell the wood chips to the mills, the county will be out from under the close scrutiny of the Department of Environmental Quality.

“We get rid of the debris that we have to get rid of by law,” Grennell said.