Under an emergency provision of the city's purchasing policy, Statesboro City Council on Tuesday morning approved a no-bid contract to spend up to $1 million with Southern Disaster Recovery, or SDR, for removal of storm debris from right of ways of Statesboro's streets.

The $1 million is a "not to exceed" limit. Actual fees will be based on various measures of the work done.

But with "unprecedented" being a word officials are using often to describe the amount of debris created by Hurricane Helene last week, City Manager Charles Penny left open the possibility that the removal could end up costing more than $1 million. "Historic" was a word that had been applied to the flooding damage Tropical Storm Debby caused to Bulloch County's rural roads the first week of August, but Statesboro's streets escaped that one with little lasting impact.

"Unlike Debby, Hurricane Helene was more of a wind event, and so when you look around town, you see trees and power lines all down, and you see trees on top of people's homes," Penny said, "and I know in my neighborhood, debris was pulled out, mounting up, and that debris is going to be more and more and more, and in order to get that cleaned up, we will not be able to do it with city staff."

He said the city does expect that "public assistance" will come in from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The city and county have received partial federal reimbursement through FEMA and assistance from its state-level Georgia counterpart, GEMA, for cleanups after past storms.

One example was Hurricane Matthew, which passed through the area Oct. 7–8, 2016. That fall, the Statesboro city and Bulloch County governments undertook the removal of debris from roadsides with their own crews. Almost three months later, on Dec. 22, 2016, the Statesboro Herald reported that the city's efforts were finished and the county's were "almost, but not quite" and that officials planned to burn more than 20,000 cubic yards of debris.

Just from looking around, local officials are speculating that Helene has produced more — some say far more — debris that Matthew did.

"We don't know what it will cost," Penny told the mayor and council. "It could be more than a million. ... But we do ask that you approve this contract so that we can mobilize this company to get our city cleaned up. I don't know how many weeks it's going to take, but whatever it is, it would be even longer if we were trying to just do it with the city crew, and again, we do expect these funds to be reimbursed to us by FEMA."

He promised to inform the council if the cost, as it accumulates, appears likely to exceed the $1 million limit in the current contract.

As the actual basis for SDR's billing, the contract states specific charges for various services. For example, the fee for removing and hauling debris from right of ways or other public land to a designated site within 15 miles is $7.75 per cubic yard. If debris has to be hauled to a site 15.1 to 30 miles away, the fee increases to $9.25 per cubic yard.

For cutting partially uprooted or split trees that lean over the public right of way, described as "leaners," the rates are based on the diameter of the tree trunk measured two feet from the base: $115 for a six-inch to 11.99-inch tree, but with higher price brackets for larger trees, up to $595 for a single 48-inch diameter or wider tree. Those are just two examples from a complex schedule of charges.

District 4 Councilmember John Riggs asked who decides whether Statesboro and Bulloch are eligible for reimbursement, and if it is the governor.

In fact, the governor of each storm-affected state issues an emergency declaration and requests federal assistance. Gov. Brian Kemp had declared a state of emergency for all 159 of Georgia's counties Sept. 25 in preparation for Helene, then requested expedited federal relief Monday morning.

President Joe Biden approved a Major Disaster Declaration for 11 Georgia counties announced by FEMA's press office early Tuesday. Bulloch County wasn't listed in that one, but it was included in FEMA's Tuesday afternoon announcement that 30 additional counties are also approved for federal public assistance to local governments, including reimbursement for cleanup.

Residents of the 41 currently covered counties may also be eligible for federal private assistance for temporary housing and home repairs and certain other storm-related expenses.

Riggs made the motion, seconded by District 3 Councilmember Ginny Hendley, to approve the contract with SDR, LLC, for debris removal. It passed 4-0.

'Mobilize in 48 hours'

Bob Jackson, business development representative for SDR, which is based in Greer, South Carolina, briefly spoke to the council before the vote.

In Georgia, the company had contracts with Coffee, Clinch, White, Elbert and Wilkes counties and was waiting on confirmation from six others, according to Jackson. He named other counties and a couple of Georgia cities, Griffin and Newnan, for which SDR has completed past projects.

"Once we get approval, we can mobilize because we can start taking trucks," he said. "We're still searching for trucks, too. I mean, we're meeting all of our needs right now, but we can mobilize in 48 hours."

Jackson said the company works "hand in hand with FEMA, GEMA." But in the hallway after the meeting, he and Assistant City Manager Jason Boyles said the city will need to hire a different firm to provide third-party reporting of the volume of debris SDR handles, in order to submit this for FEMA reimbursement.

Emergency waiver

Ordinarily, the city's purchasing ordinance requires competitive written quotes for service contracts worth more than $20,000. But it also contains a provision allowing the city manager to waive bidding requirements "whenever an emergency condition exists which presents a threat to the safety, health and welfare of citizens … and whenever such requirements would cause undue delay in the delivery of essential services under such conditions."

A memo from city Central Services Director Daren Prather noted that the "emergency purchase ordinance" would be used to award the contract.

Interviewed after the meeting, Prather said following the ordinary process would have taken "two weeks to bid, another week for assessments and evaluations, so it could be three to four weeks before we selected a vendor."

SDR hasn't served Statesboro before but does similar work throughout the Southeast, he said.

"The last storm, it took a little longer, but we did it ourselves," Prather said. "This is the first time we've brought in major forces."

County may hire SDR

Bulloch County officials are considering also contracting with SDR, county Public Works Director Dink Butler said in an interview Monday. 

This reflects a change of plans by the county administration, which originally did not intend to pick up debris from Hurricane Helene, until officials realized that the storm left a mess of historic proportions.

"If it's a county-maintained road, we're going to pick it up from the right of way," Butler said. "We'll get this contract service in here and they'll help us."

As of Monday, the county was still allowing residents to haul yard debris to its 20 or so solid waste collection centers. But the Public Works Department started closing them periodically for one or two hours to tidy up the piles and remove household waste.

Tuesday's previously scheduled 5:30 p.m. Board of Commissioners meeting was cancelled with short notice, while the county administrative offices remain closed. So there was no confirmation yet that the county will contract with SDR.

Pile by the road

But staff members had posted an "updated announcement" Monday on the Bulloch County Public Safety and EMA page on Facebook, asking residents to cut and pile fallen trees, limbs and yard waste "by the roadway for eventual pickup."

This applies to county-maintained roads.

City officials are making a similar request, for the debris to be placed in the public right of way "without blocking the roadway or storm drains, mailboxes and fire hydrants," a Sunday notice stated.