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t started. Then it stopped. Soon it will start again. One way or the other, says Town Manager Bob Maxbauer, crews will resume collecting the Hurricane Irene debris on the streets of Oriental either today or tomorrow.

Collection had begun earlier this week but was halted at 5p Tuesday. The reason, says Maxbauer, was that the contract arrangement the town had with the locally-based hauler, Phillip Willis, did not meet FEMA’s new criteria.

It took two days of meeting with FEMA representatives, says Maxbauer, to come to grips what the Town had to do to comply.

Debris pick-up earlier this week on Ragan Rd. It could resume as early as today. (D Wogaman photo)

A lot of money is at stake. Maxbauer estimates the overall cost of hauling all that debris in Oriental will be “upwards of $100,000.” FEMA reimburses municipalities such as Oriental and Pamlico County for up to 75% of such costs … so long as they comply with the requirements.

That’s why, Maxbauer says, he ordered the collection to stop on Tuesday. The Town might not have been reimbursed beyond that.

These FEMA rules were put in place after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. Irene is the first major hurricane in Pamlico County since then. Maxbauer says the Town had not been aware of the changes, and just went with an arrangement it had with Willis that had been in place before.

Even Pamlico County governent, which does have an Emergency Preparedness Office, hadn’t worked out a FEMA-compliant arrangement before Hurricane Irene struck. The County did get squared away a few days ago and an out-of-state contractor began hauling mid-week.

New Criteria

Under the new rules, what the Pamlico County government pays out has a direct bearing on what the Town of Oriental can do. The Town Manager says FEMA requires that the Town pay no more to haul a cubic yard of waste than the rate that Pamlico County has worked out with its hauler. Maxbauer says that the County is paying $6.67 per cubic yard for hauling the vegetative debris — tree limbs and other yard waste associated with Irene. It goes to the county dump on Highway 306.

The County is also paying $8.02 a cubic yard to haul construction/demolition or C&D waste, as well as white goods such as appliances and any hazardous materials. That goes to a site in Tuscarora, midway between Kinston and New Bern.

Maxbauer says he’d like to give the hauling business to a local hauler, such as Phillip Willis, but that if an out-of-state company is cheaper, the FEMA rules force his hand.

Maxbauer said he spoke with Phillip Willis late Thursday and spelled out the FEMA rules the Town had to adhere to. It would mean less money per trip than the Town had briefly paid him for Irene hauling.

According to the Town Manager, Willis was to give him an answer by 7a Friday. Maxbauer says he told Willis that if he took the job, he was to start right away. If he doesn’t the Town Manager says he’d lined up an out-of-state company to start by Saturday.

Haul Monitors

Another post-Katrina change in the FEMA reimbursement rules requires that there be monitors to make sure that the haulers are taking away only hurricane related things. Monitors are also to be making sure that the haulers are carrying away as much debris as possible in each trip to the dumps.

To do that, the Town Manager says that under the FEMA guidelines, one monitor is to follow the truck on its route here in Oriental and then give the driver what’s called a “load ticket.” That is then presented to another monitor — a so-called, “Tower Monitor” — at the dump. Looking down from a perch in to the backs of the dump trucks this monitor is supposed to make sure the load of waste is what the paperwork says it is.

Maxbauer says he’s already been approached by four FEMA approved companies that offer monitors for $30-$50 an hour. Bob says “we can do better than that.” He says he’s going to find monitors who would work for $12-$14. Town staff may do some, but not all, of that monitoring work.

Regardless Of Who Pays, Debris Removal Not Cheap

The costs of getting rid of the hurricane debris are not confined to the hauling fees. Each cubic yard* of the tree waste also incurs a fee of $3.72 to be ground. Maxbauer says a private company takes those chips for resale later. As such, there’s no tipping fee at the Hwy 306 dump. Getting rid of the white goods, C&D and other waste is costlier. The Tuscarora dump will be charging $38 for each ton taken there, on top of the $8.02 per cubic yard hauling fee.

The less debris put out at curbside, then, the less the Town will have to pay. THere is one factor working in the Town’s favor. In the past week, so-called “pickers” have hit the streets of Oriental and scavenged in those debris piles, especially for metal pieces that they can sell to a scrap dealer. “The pickers,” says Oriental’s Town Manager, “have done us a favor in taking that stuff.”

He also says that residents should only be putting out tree and other vegetative debris brought down by the hurricane. The town-wide debris pick up is not intended for more selective tree trimming or lot clearing. According to the Town Manager, FEMA says it won’t finance that, and that’s one thing that the monitors may be looking out for.

2:20p update Town Hall says local hauler Willis has agreed to the FEMA mandated fees. Debris pick-up should resume today (Friday Sept 9) and will continue Saturday.

Posted Friday September 9, 2011 by Melinda Penkava