Dunkirk clean-up addressed (1/25/05)

DUNKIRK — Work needed to clean up following this winter’s harsh weather and how to pay for it were major topics at Monday night’s council meeting here.

Dunkirk Mayor Sam Hubbard said he had attended a meeting earlier in the day with Federal Emergency Management Agency officials about possibly recovering some of the city’s expenses relating to a snow emergency between Dec. 21 and 23.

Hubbard said that two similar sessions will be scheduled soon, one relating to the January ice storm and resulting power outage, as well as a second session dealing with flooding problems this month.

Hubbard said most of Dunkirk’s emergency-related expenses are directly tied to the ice storm and power outage.

Cleaning up all the broken tree limbs alone is “a costly venture,” Hubbard told council members. He added some large trees also will need to be cut down.

After discussing the topic of ice storm-related emergency expenses with all the city department heads, Hubbard said he estimates the total will be approximately $80,000.

This includes more than normal expenses for practically all city departments.

For the police department, an extra $1,200 will be needed to cover overtime, fuel and generator expenses.

Other estimates were: wastewater treatment plant, $5,600 for overtime and generator costs; fire department, $1,000 plus 250 volunteer (non-paid) hours; water department, $12,000 for overtime and generator expenses; and $55,000 to $60,000 for the street department.

Tucker Tree Service of Hartford City was hired by the city to help with limb pick up and chipping of tree branches, Hubbard and Councilman Jim Doughty explained. The city has just started receiving bills from Tucker. At Monday’s council session, payment of two bills from Tucker were approved totaling $12,100 — for cleaning up limbs and putting them through a chipper and cutting down and removing four large trees which were destroyed as a result of the ice storm.

The tree limb clean-up work is not over either, Hubbard said. The city’s plan calls for continuing with the clean-up work through Friday, and then taking a break for a week while residents will have a chance to place more brush and branches at the curbside for pick up.

“We will start picking up and chipping limbs and brush on Feb. 7, and end the program on Feb. 11,” Hubbard said. To which council president Craig Faulkner responded, “Weather permitting.”

Councilman Tom Johnson noted there is still a lot of clean-up work remaining at Dunkirk City Park, where numerous trees were damaged. Johnson said that a new, larger chainsaw was going to be needed to tackle the work.

Hubbard said he wanted all department heads to keep track of receipts for any such items which had to be purchased as a result of the storm damage. The city could possibly be reimbursed by FEMA for such expenses, he said.

In other business at Monday night’s meeting, council members:

•Approved spending $1,218 for chimney repairs at the fire station. Air Cleaning Specialists of Indianapolis was hired to do the work.

•Approved the city’s annual pledge to Jay County Development Corporation totaling $6,500.

•Authorized clerk-treasurer Jane Kesler to send out fire department contract bills to the four rural townships which the Dunkirk Fire Department covers. These include Richland and Knox in Jay County, Niles in Delaware County and Jackson in Blackford County. The payments will remain the same as last year, Kesler said. The annual amounts are Richland, $4,170; Knox, $1,825; Niles, $1,853; and Jackson, $2,474.[[In-content Ad]]