By: Sheila Crowley
Staff Writer
The Murray County Commissioners held an emergency meeting on Thursday morning, July 5th to hear from Emergency Management, Heath Landsman, along with several township and city officials to discuss cleanup of the recent flooding.
Landsman opened the meeting by saying, “The biggest thing we’re going to have is debris – there’s going to be a lot of debris.”
Landsman explained that he and Jon Bloemendaal, county recycling, had held communications as to where they could collect the debris. Landsman said the process is cumbersome as everything needs to be tracked. “Everything needs to be tracked as to where it’s coming from and how many cubic yards it is so the County can reimbursed for all the debris that we are hauling.”
He and Bloemendaal have put a request into Minnesota Pollution Control to use the parking lot of the recycling center as a gathering spot for the debris. Bloemendaal has also put a call into Schaap Sanitation to help with the collection process.
Landsman posted the question to the Commissioners as to who would be taking on this task…would it be the county, the cities, townships? He also questioned whether county dump trucks would be used or private contractors.
It was explained that in flooding events, often times, the cities will take care of the debris as long as it’s put out on the curb. Regional Manager, Mark Marcy Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management, also felt it was important for the cities and the counties to operate with the same plan and information. He said typically the debris pickup costs are all covered by federal dollars as long as it’s placed on the public right of way. He explained that because it’s probably going to be a federal event, the paperwork side of things is probably going to be pretty in depth for the reimbursement process. Pictures of the dump trucks and sizes hauling is a critical piece of the reimbursement. They need to be taken prior to removal and again after…everything needs to be documented. They will also need measurements of the pile because FEMA has a formula that determines how many dump trucks it takes to create the size pile, etc. “This is where it is going to become cumbersome,” says Landsman. “You are going to have to have someone at the site take a picture of the debris, load it in the truck as well as someone at the debris site recording where the truck came from what location and was loaded with branches, corn stocks, debris, etc.” Each truck will need to be tracked where it came from, what it brought, how much and which pile it is dumped on. Landsman explained there will be three piles. One for trees, branches, corn stocks, household appliances and construction materials (insulation, carpet, 2x4s). He also noted the wait for a dumpster is a month out. Landsman also pointed out that if there is sewage backup in the house, it is considered a public health hazard.
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