Lowndes County Board of Supervisors spent its Monday meeting discussing cleanup needs due to the EF-1 tornado that ripped through the New Hope area Thursday.
The supervisors passed a resolution complementing the work of the county’s emergency management department, road department and sheriff’s department and authorizing Road Manager Ronnie Burns to solicit outside contractors for up the $50,000 in debris removal.
District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith proposed the resolution.
“I happened to be at the (Lowndes County Emergency Management Agency) office when the storm hit,” Smith said. “I was just so impressed with how they managed the situation, how professional a job they did. The same is true for the road crews and the (Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department), so I thought we really ought to acknowledge all of those people for the job they did.”
Burns said his road crews had all roads open by 1 a.m. Friday and, with the assistance of crews from the City of Columbus and Monroe County, and that he spent Friday further clearing the roads and address any obstructions.
“We had 16 chainsaws going at one point out there in the dark,” Burns said. “Our guys did a great job and we really appreciate the help from those other agencies. It was some great teamwork, I thought.”
Burns asked the supervisors for permission to turn over the bulk of the debris removal from the storm to outside contractors.
“Right now, we’ve got a list of 16 roads that have debris along the side of the road and we’ll probably have a few more. Plus, there are multiple roads in the Lakeover subdivision,” Burns said. “I really think we need to bring somebody else in because we are just getting started with our regular road work. If we have to stop and deal with the debris, it’s going to put us way, way behind.”
Asked how much the debris removal would cost, Burns said it was hard to estimate.
Board President Harry Sanders said that if the county allocated no more than $50,000 for the clean-up, it would not be required to go through the bidding process, which could delay debris removal for a month or more.
“It will probably cost more than $50,000,” Burns said.
Sanders said any extra debris removal could be removed by Burns’ crew later.
“By then, hopefully, there won’t be too much left and you’ll have been able to get caught up with your other work.”
Burns said he thought he could secure contractors with a week or so, at which time debris removal can start.
“We’re going to have to put a cut-off time on it, though,” Burns said. “Usually what happens is once debris is cleaned up, residents bring out more. So at some point, we have to cut that off.”
In other board business, supervisors granted permission to Agricel to have access to the former CalStar building so that it can assess the property before agreeing to a lease arrangement. CalStar, which leased the building from the county, ended operations in October. Under the plan presented by Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins, Agricel intends to lease the property on behalf of PACCAR, which will use the 100,000-square-foot building as a warehouse. If the lease is approved, PACCAR will pick up the $30,000 monthly rent, retroactive to March 1. CalStar’s last payment on the lease was in February.
“You’re only losing a couple of weeks of the lease payments,” Higgins said.
Finally, the board awarded a contract for the county’s new horsepark’s office building to JEM Contracting of Macon. JEM was the low bidder on the project with a bid of $1,160,000.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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