Wheeler County Takes the Next Step in Hurricane Cleanup

Officials in Wheeler County have decided to continue the services of two companies originally hired on October 4 under an emergency FEMA contract for debris removal following Hurricane Helene.

A fter hearing from a consultant concerning the next step in recovery from the effects of Hurricane Helene, the Alamo City Council voted to renew services of Phillips & Jordan, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and DebrisTech of Picayune, Mississippi. The City Council voted during its regular session on Monday November 18, and the Wheeler County Commission and the Glenwood City Council each met in called sessions on Tuesday, November 19, and approved staying with Phillips & Jordan for debris pickup and disposal and DebrisTech for monitoring debris removal as required under FEMA policy.

Cleanup crews have been working for the past several weeks to remove debris from roads and rights of way inside the cities and throughout the county. The cost of the cleanup is being handled through FEMA under the emergency contract, with the county and municipalities responsible for a portion of the cleanup costs. This work is expected to be completed in late December.

On November 13, a scoring committee made up of city, county and Chamber of Commerce officials met at Alamo City Hall to consider submission of applicants obtained through a bid process for continuing cleanup in Wheeler County under a long-term contract. The group ranked the applicants and a recommendation was made to the city and county governments.

Susan Hartman, representing ER-Assist Disaster Funding Solutions, which was contracted to advise local authorities as a liaison for the FEMA process, explained to the City of Alamo during its recent meeting the procedures for FEMA services going forward.

“You started off working under an emergency contract for debris removal and monitoring. We are now at point where we have to switch from an emergency contract to a more permanent procured contract for removal and monitoring. Through Wheeler County we went out for bids and had eight submissions for debris removal and two for debris monitoring. We had a scoring committee meet to look over those proposals and they developed a ranking of those proposals, and we made a recommendation based on that ranking.” She assured the Council that the bid process was “based on a fair and level competitive procurement process,” which adhered to FEMA’s strict procurement policy and included posting the requests for bids on federal and state sites. She further explained that the cleanup projects are broken down into phases, where emergency cleanup focuses foremost on health and safety; with the second phase of cleaning up and building back requiring a different type of strategy. She said it is impossible at this stage to project a timeframe for accomplishing the second phase because the process varies according to community needs and priorities and the order in which the paperwork is processed by FEMA.

Hartman said that she has also submitted local applications for public grant assistance from FEMA, which have been accepted. This is a process that is separate from the new contract with Phillips & Jordan and DebrisTech. “We are looking at starting the flow of recovery reimbursement funds to the Cities of Alamo and Glenwood, as well as Wheeler County. We will be looking at recovery costs and damages, line item by line item.” She exampled as line items the costs incurred for equipment needed to clean up debris, such as a the purchase of a chain saw, and the fuel to run a generator at a pump station. “It is a tedious, long process with lots of moving parts. There will be a local cost share, but we are working to minimize that.”