Austell moves toward contract with disaster recovery company

By Ralph Ellis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

After hearing sobering statistics of flood damage, the Austell City Council on Monday night moved toward signing a no-bid contract with a disaster recovery company.

BDR, based in Maitland, Fla., would help the town of about 7,000 people document its recovery efforts to ensure reimbursement from FEMA, company representative James J. Siciliano told the council. Debris disposal is one task the firm would monitor.

The council discussed putting the contract out for bids, but Mayor Joe Jerkins said the city isn’t required to do so and doesn’t have time.

“I don’t think we can wait six weeks, with that garbage out there in the streets,” the mayor said. “My recommendation is to do it so we can get something started in the morning.”

The contract could be signed as early as Tuesday. The company would be paid on an hourly or daily basis, Jerkins said, so the total amount of the contract is undetermined.

Austell took a hard hit in the flooding. On Monday night, the council learned that flooding damaged 669 houses. Jerkins said the town has 2,300-2,500 houses total. He guessed about 100 of those damaged houses will have to be destroyed. The flood damaged about 50 businesses, he said.

Jerkins said he’ll talk with GEMA and FEMA to make sure the contract is acceptable while the city attorney studies the document. The council didn’t vote, but no members objected to moving ahead.

BDR would perform tasks such as monitoring debris disposal to make sure only storm-related trash is counted, since FEMA doesn’t reimburse for non-storm trash.

The firm probably would hire local residents at about $12 per hour for that job, Siciliano said, starting with about 20 hires. Jerkins rented about 50 debris containers early in the week.

The firm would also help the keep track of overtime served by police and firefighters and keep up with costs of temporary repairs.

The contract will be “piggybacked” on a contract BDR has with Savannah, meaning the policies in that contract have already been approved by state government and can be applied to Austell. The city attorney will also examine the proposed contract.

Siciliano said BDR is also talking to Douglas County and other Atlanta area local governments coping with storm recovery. The firm has been involved in many disaster cleanups, including Hurricane Katrina.