Bloomington OKs $500K for June 25 storm cleanup
A total of $500,000 worth of work from Williams Tree Service was approved by Bloomington’s board of public works at its regular Tuesday meeting, to help clear debris left by the June 25 storm that blew through the area.
The half million dollars was split into a $150,000 contract and another one worth $350,000.
The city acted under a state statute that allows emergency purchases without soliciting bids or proposals, when there’s a threat to public health, welfare, or safety.
The board also passed a resolution at its Tuesday meeting that extends a blanket pre-approval for the city controller to pay such expenses, in order to bring future emergency expenditures into complete compliance with state law.
Public works director Adam Wason described the point of the resolution as “making sure we have the property authority for staff to execute emergency purchases in coordination with the mayor’s office and controller.”
Even though it’s not required under the state statute on emergency expenditures, according to a staff memo, city staff reached out to four different commercial vegetation removal contractors to do the debris removal work. Williams Tree Service was the only one to respond.
Williams is based in Paragon, which is about 10 miles southwest of Martinsville.
Public works director Adam Wason responded to criticism on Facebook that the city had not engaged a company based in Bloomington. Wason wrote: “We are working to get local firms as well, but most are booked for weeks or lack the large equipment necessary.”
Wason added, “We’ll also be offering additional hours to our AFSCME [American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees] work force, but we’re in prime paving season and don’t want to lose progress on that either.”
At Tuesday’s board meeting, Wason announced that the public works street division would deploy extra crews working overtime on Friday and Saturday this week to help with debris collection.
According to the staff memo, Bloomington’s urban forester Haskell Smith estimates that about 2 percent of Bloomington’s trees were damaged or downed by the storm. That is somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 trees. Many of the downed trees were, at the time the memo was written, obstructing the right-of-way.
Wason said the city would try to get reimbursed for the costs, either through FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) or the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. The level of reimbursement would depend on the amount of damage, Wason said. If it’s a FEMA reimbursement, the city could see about 75 percent reimbursement. If it’s an IDHS reimbursement it would be more like 35 to 50 percent, Wason said.
Bloomington’s approach to debris collection has two key features: curbside pickup and a drop-off location.
Crews are collecting tree and vegetation-related debris that residents have gathered into manageable piles. Residents who want collection services were supposed to submit a pickup request through the city’s UReport system.
At Tuesday’s board meeting, Wason responded to the concerns some residents have expressed that their UReport was closed out as soon as they filed it into the system. That’s the way these reports are supposed to work, Wason said. The city collects the addresses and proceeds in a grid-like fashion, he said.
Based on the B Square’s inspection of the UReport system’s records on Tuesday, there were 1,747 requests that had been logged in the system for storm debris pickup.
The drop-off location for debris is in the parking lots next to the ball fields at Lower Cascades at 3601 N. Old State Road 37. Residents have to show ID to access this service.
Wason said only a couple dozen residents had taken advantage of the drop off location. But that’s also where contractors are depositing the debris they pickup. So the pile at Lower Cascades is substantial.
Wason wrapped up by saying he appreciates everyone’s efforts on the storm debris cleanup effort.
