Though Winter Storm Mara hit our area more than a month ago, cleanup costs for the city continue to skyrocket.
At the March 9 meeting of the Taylor City Council, Public Works Director Jim Gray said initial estimates he had given of $1 to $1.5 million for emergency debris removal could be six or even seven-fold higher.
“I have used words like ‘woefully underestimated’ in the past,” Gray said. “They continue to head that way. As of today, we have collected 650,000 cubic yards of brush. So, if you recall, our original estimates were around 100,000 cubic yards. So I stood up here and said, ‘I estimate we will be at about $1 million to $1.5 million in costs, and I would like you to know if you multiply that by six, I think I am still there, or maybe 7. These are still rough numbers.”
In February, the city contracted with CTC Disaster Response, Inc., which specializes in debris removal and charges 6.45 cents per cubic yard, to deal with the wave of downed trees, limbs that covered our city.
Nonetheless, Gray said the news was not all bad.
“The biggest issue becomes will FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) reimburse (us), he said. “We have no idea right now, but we will find out in the future.”
In addition, as of March 9, Gray said the city has completed the 99 percent of collections on the first-round of pickup, which is ahead of schedule.
Based on this timeline, the city will have Friday, March 24 be the last day for pickup through CTC, and April 7 be the deadline for accepting drop-offs of branches from residents free of charge at 1501 East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
“If we don’t do these certain dates, we are going to drag these out for too long,” Gray said.
In addition, Gray said Waste Connections, the regular waste service provider, will allow residents to put out up to 15 bags of leaves or small brush at the curbside as part of bulk collection, but they need to notify utility billing by calling 512-352-2066 at least a day or two before their collection date.
Gray said Waste Management will also accept small bundles of brush that are smaller than 18 inches around and up to six-feet long as part of regular trash pickup.
“So as we close down on this event, we are able to use the services that are already in our contract with Waste Connections, so that’s going to be an important thing to remember as we go,” Gray said.
Despite the high cost to the city, leaders remained upbeat about these efforts.
“I really want to thank the city, the city staff, for not leaving this cleanup in the residents’ hands and actually being good stewards of the community,” said District 4 Councilman Robert Garcia.
