Supervisors seeking faster pace over debris collection

Published 8:00 pm Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Lincoln County supervisors remain unsatisfied with the pace of debris collection in the county following Hurricane Isaac.

     Ryan Holmes and Jeff Dungan of Dungan Engineering, which overseeing the collection, updated the board Monday on the progress of debris pickup.

     Holmes explained that after a slow start, things are moving along.

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     The supervisors and engineers sent the contractor, Young’s General Contracting, a letter last week explaining that they were not meeting the terms of the contract. However, after that letter was sent, things improved, said Holmes.

     “We saw an instant increase in production after that,” said Holmes. “Before, they did not have enough trucks and were not picking up as much debris per day as they were supposed to.”

     Despite the recent improvements, supervisors still did not seem impressed with Young’s work. District Four Supervisor Eddie Brown said roads in his district have not been fully picked up.

     “I don’t see a road they’ve completed yet,” he said. “Calls and comments are starting to come in now about it.”

     No representatives from the contractor were present at Monday’s meeting.

     Most of the collection is being done in the southern part of the county, where most of the debris is located. Holmes said the contractor is trying to get the most debris collected the fastest.

     Holmes said Wednesday through Saturday last week saw a significant improvement in the daily totals of debris collected, with around 800 cubic yards collected per day.

     Supervisors also commented on how they’ve seen Young’s workers go down some roads and pick up some debris, but not all of it. Holmes said he was aware of that.

     “Roads need to be picked up from beginning to end,” he said. “They can’t leave any debris. They must get it all.”

     The contract for debris collection states two passes must be made down every road, with at least one weekend in between to ensure all debris is collected.

     A notification will be made when the first round of collection has occurred on a road. That will allow home and business owners time to put any other debris they may have by the road.

     So far, close to 4,000 cubic yards of debris has been collected in Lincoln County. An estimated 20,000 cubic yards of debris was in the county when the collection began.

     Brown said he looks forward to when all the debris is gone.

     “I’ve got people upset in my district because (the contractor) hasn’t picked up their road yet,” he said. “I just wish they’d get it picked up and get it over with. It seems like they’re not going fast enough for me.”

     In other post-Isaac activity, Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Clifford Galey said anyone with white goods to be collected needs to call his office at 833-8561.