County clean-up progressing (3/15/05)

The task of cleaning up debris along Jay County’s roads left over from January’s ice storm should pick up a little speed over the next few weeks.

Jay County Commissioners, after a lengthy discussion Monday with county highway superintendent Ken Wellman, asked Wellman to begin the process of hiring private contractors to help with clean-up efforts — especially in the southern third of the county (Richland, Jefferson, Pike and Madison townships).

The contracts with those companies will stipulate an amount per cubic yard of chipped debris.

Wellman, who has already had contact with several companies, told the commissioners that the county may not be eligible for federal reimbursement for clean-up costs if it pays the contractors on an hourly basis.

Wellman said he was told by a representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that contracts should be entered on a lump sum or unit basis.

Because Jay and surrounding counties were declared disaster areas, governmental units are eligible to be reimbursed for 75 percent of costs in dealing with and cleaning up from the ice storm and flooding that followed.

Commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer and Faron Parr agreed that the unit method would be more fair to both the contractors and taxpayers.

“Your recommendation is ...,” Wellman said.

“To let you handle it,” answered Miller.

Dump sites for the chipped debris will be established, and personnel from the highway department will be present to verify the amount being dumped each time.

The contractors will be asked to provide a ticket for each load dumped.

Wellman and the commissioners agreed Monday it would be virtually impossible for a contractor to provide an accurate estimate of how much the clean-up would cost given the wide geographic range and variation in the amount of downed tree limbs and brush.

The county highway department has incurred approximately $40,000 in costs related to the ice storm, flooding and clean-up from those events.

Because damage was less severe in the northern half of the county, “Everything north of (Ind.) 26, basically, is done,” Wellman said.

The contractors hired are likely to focus efforts in the southernmost townships of the county, which were hit hardest by the ice storm that began Jan. 5.

Also Monday, the commissioners set Monday, April 11 to open bids for asphalt emulsion for the highway department. The bids will be opened at 1:30 p.m.

Miller, the commissioners’ president, said Monday that one of the county’s ambulances was involved in an accident Saturday in Fort Wayne while transferring a patient to a Fort Wayne hospital.

Neither the patient nor the Jay Emergency Medical Service personnel were injured.

The ambulance, which apparently has a bent front axle, was towed to Como Service southwest of Portland.[[In-content Ad]]