Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Debris Cleaning Continues In Nevada County

D&J Enterprises of Auburn, Ala., has the contract to clean up the debris left by the Christmas Day ice storm across Nevada County.

Nevada County Judge James Roy Brown said the county signed a contract with D&J on Jan. 24, with crews starting to work across the county on Jan. 26.

When the county advertised the bid, 23 companies called expressing interest in doing the job. All were sent letters detailing the bid proposals, with the specifications including the companies had to be bonded, licensed and insured.

A dozen companies responded, with D&J being the lowest bidder at $7.75 per cubic yard. Before the company was hired, though, Brown did a background check and received good responses.

The company has been adding men and equipment since starting to work on Jan. 26, including locals who have trailers.

The local residents are sent to areas where the debris can be loaded by hand. The debris is then taken to Hines where it's measured and unloaded. The locals are paid the same rate per cubic yard as company employees.

There are three staging sites in the county where the debris is first taken. They are in the old International Paper yard, west of Rosston and north of Bluff City.

D&J is also trimming trees with limbs broken and hanging down, along with grinding the debris up.

Company officials worked with Brown to create work zones throughout the county. A map, with the zones in different colors, is outside the courtroom at the Nevada County courthouse, showing where crews are working. The map is updated regularly.

D&J is running nine or 10 crews with up to 200 men at a time to get the job done by Feb. 27, as required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in order for the county to qualify for the 90-10 match on debris removal.

In actuality, the county is responsible for 5 percent of the cost, and this can be done with in-kind labor. FEMA is paying 90 percent of the costs, with the state picking up the other 5 percent.

However, if the job isn't finished by Feb. 27, the split reverts to the original 75-25, with FEMA paying 75 percent, the state paying 12.5 percent and the county responsible for 12.5 percent.

Crews are working seven days a week to get the debris removed, basically going from dawn till dusk.