Portland clean-up progressing (1/29/05)

City street department employees are more than half done with the clean-up effort, but the Jan. 5 ice storm has left its mark on Portland.

Street and park department superintendent Jeff Harker said about 60 percent of the debris from city streets and private property has been collected.

He estimates his department’s cost for limb collection will be more than $50,000. Those funds will come out of the street department’s annual budget of about $1.1 million.

Harker is hopeful his department will be reimbursed for about 75 percent of that expense by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He said Jay County is among the counties included in a recent disaster declaration, and he plans to fill out the necessary forms to apply for the federal aid.

The ice storm affected more than the street department’s budget.

During the days following the storm, some of the department’s employees worked 12 to 15 hours of overtime. Fuel consumption during January was double what it normally is for the month, Harker said.

Maintenance costs for the trucks were high this month because they were driven almost every day for several hours, he said.

“(The storm) put a dent in (the budget),” he said.

Members of the city crew also put in extra hours to battle the flooding in downtown Portland which came with heavy rains that fell on Jan. 11 and 12.

Harker is a little worried about the department running out of money.

“We still have three months of winter left and also November and December. It’s hard to say at this point if we will be OK,” he said.

In January of 2004, there was little overtime accumulated. Extra hours were only worked when there was snow to plow. Harker said the month is typically a time to trim trees hanging over the alleys, streets and sidewalks.

Street department employees were able to take down the Christmas decorations this week, which were scheduled to be removed the day after the ice storm.

Things have slowed down a little for street department employees, who are back to working their normal eight-hour shifts.

Crews have driven down every street in the city at least once to collect limbs and branches. Employees have started a second sweep of city streets and have begun to go down alleys. The pile of limbs and trees collected by the city, located on the west side of North Morton Street behind Doane Pet Care, has grown steadily during the past few (Continued on page 10)

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weeks.

Harker said the collecting of limbs along city streets should be complete in about two months, but will continue as long as people set the limbs out.

“We still have a ways to go,” he said. “We’re out there doing what we can and the best we can.”

After all the debris along streets and alleys is collected, crews will remove limbs that are broken and hanging over streets and sidewalks. Then, the debris at city parks will be removed.

Harker said the parks are covered with downed branches, with Haynes Park in the worst shape. After the debris is removed, it will be time to prepare the parks to open this spring.

January 2005 is one month street department employees likely will not forget.

The day after the ice storm hit the city, the employees began working 10 to 12 hours per day to remove limbs from the streets. The only time the branch collecting stopped was when workers had to plow snow and sandbag for the flooding.

Harker is impressed with the employees’ dedication and efforts.

“The guys care about what they’re doing,” said Harker. “I’m very proud of them ... They gave 110 percent.”

Portland Mayor Bruce Hosier also is happy with how quickly the street department is cleaning up the storm’s mess.

“I’m very pleased and proud of city employees’ efforts,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]