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8.9 Limb Clean Up ServicesCITY OF SALINA REQUEST FOR CITY COMMISSION ACTION DATE TIME 01/07/2008 4:00 P.M. AGENDA SECTION ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT: APPROVED FOR NO: 8 AGENDA: Public Works Department ITEM NO. 9 BY: BY: Michael Fraser Page 1 ITEM: Authorization to enter into contract services to provide necessary resources for the December 2007 Ice Storm Clean-up. BACKGROUND: On December 10-12, 2007, a major winter ice storm struck Salina. This ice storm brought down large amounts of tree limbs knocking out power, along with telephone and cable serve for thousands of area citizens. Da mage was extensive in and along the right-of-way as well as on private property. City crews cleared streets and sta cked debris on the curb throughout the city and residents have moved debris from their private properties to the curb in anticipation of a city-wide clean-up effort. In addition, the Markey Free Yard Wa ste Area is currently being used as a convenient intermediate collection location for those residents who can not wait for the city-wide collection. The scale of the damage was so extensive that the City Landfill constructed burn pits to burn tree limbs. All necessary burn permits have been obtained from the local Fire Marshall as well as the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Citizens or contractors who take loads of tree limb debris to the Landfill for burning are not charged. The City Plan calls for the coordination of the clean-up effort to be handled by the city with debris removal taking place at the curb along all city st reets. Alley pick-up will not be done due to the difficulty of getting equipment into those areas. However, the city does not have enough resources to accomplish this alone. Additional equipment and personnel will be required to complete the clean-up effort in a timely manner and without significant and/or unacceptable interruption of other key Public Works tasks and projects. However, additional snow events will slow down the process. In addition to responding to the storm debris caused in early December, staff has responded to four th snow events that have occurred since the December 10 storm. Weather permitting, staff has begun collecting curbside debris and hauling it to the Landfill. Staff ha s observed our current collection operations and prepared a proposed approach to debris collection utilizing additional private contractors. The proposed approach would utilize City staff and equipment to l oad a fleet of trucks to haul the debris to the Landfill. Staff f eels that seven crews could be d eployed on the streets and one crew would work out of the Markley site. Larger 10 yd trucks would be needed to support the clean-up effort. Based upon the City’s available fleet, an additional 15 dump trucks with operators would need to be added to the effort. In order to maximize our efforts in l oading the vehicles, it is also recommended that we lease four skid steer loaders with grapple rake attachments. As an additional consideration, several locations of limbs hanging in trees over the streets and right- of-ways have been identified and tree trimming services will be requir ed to assist the Parks CITY OF SALINA REQUEST FOR CITY COMMISSION ACTION DATE TIME 01/07/2008 4:00 P.M. AGENDA SECTION ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT: APPROVED FOR NO: 8 AGENDA: Public Works Department ITEM NO. 9 BY: BY: Michael Fraser Page 2 Department with removing tree limbs in those locations. Since the storm damage is city-wide and the clean-up effort is expected to take and extended amount of time, it is proposed that the City be divided into three zones with two crews in each zone in order to provide systematic clean-up throughout the community. There will also be a crew working at the Markley site transporting limbs to the Landfill. All crews will transport to the Landfill, with the exception of some smaller City vehicles that will take their loads to the Markley site. A second collection through the community will be conducted right after the first collection is completed. Until bids are solicited and received, costs associated with the hauling services described above are unknown. Additionally, staff is unable to estimate the volume of debris at this time and/or the amount of time or trips required to remove all of the curbside debris. However, both cost and volume of debris are considered to be significant. Staff has prepared a scope of services in preparation for soliciting bids from vendors interested in providing vehicles and drivers to assist the City in hauling the storm debris. The City Manager has the authority to enter in to unit price agreements for operational items such as materials and services in excess of $10,000, and that authority could extend to the proposed services. However, the total cost for this clean-up effort is expected to be significant and require spending down the General Fund fund balance. Consequently, staff has presented this issue to request that the City Commission authorize the City Manager to enter in to unit price agreements for debris removal and hauling, tree trimming and equipment rental at costs that may exceed $10,000. FISCAL NOTE: At this time, Kansas has not been decl ared a Disaster Area. However, FEMA and Corps of Engineers Officials have sa id that the declaration is very likely upon the co mpletion of the review of assessment teams t hat have been gathering information this last week. Upon this declaration, FEMA reimbursement could be 75% of the clean-up costs. The local share of the clean- up expense could be from 25%-15%, depending on the State provided reimbursement for 10% of the cost. The local share of clean-up expenses will need to come from the General Fund Reserves. Due to the scope of the clean-up, it is difficult for staff to accurately estimate the total volume of debris, number of loads to be hauled or t he amount of time necessary to complete the clean-up. The damager and resulting clean-up is widespread enough that it is anticipated that the total costs will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and will require spending down the General Fund balance. It is worth noting that this type of disaster response is very much in keeping with the intended purpose of establishing and maintaining a General Fund balance. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Staff recommends the City Commission authorize the City Manager to enter into unit price agreements for emergency debris removal, tree trimming and equipment rental.