Amended Item 3C- Hurricane Matthew Debris RemovalAGENDA ITEM:
SUBMITTED BY:
DATE:
BACKGROUND:
ClTY OF ATLANTIC BEACH
CITY COMMISSION MEETING
STAFF REPORT
Hurricane Matthew Debris Removal Activities
Donald D. Jacobovitz, P.~/ / ~
Director of Public Works /
7
November 14,2016
AMENDED AGENDA ITEM 3C
NOVEMBER 14, 2016
Hurricane Matthew struck the City of Atlantic Beach on Friday,
October 7111 • It left tens of thousands of cubic yards of debris
throughout the City. The Public Works Depat1ment was tasked
with its removal, and its removal was done in a manner that could
lead to the maximum amount of reimbursement by FEMA .
A Memorandum describing the debris removal activities of Public
Works after Hurricane Matthew is attached.
When FEMA begins the reimbursement activities for Public
Assistance for Hurricane Matthew, Public Works will be prepared
with its records of these activities which were done in accordance
with FEMA 's requirements
RECOMMENDATION: Review the attached Memorandum and Contracts for Hurricane
Matthew Debris Removal Activities.
BUDGET: $500,000 for debris hauling by Ceres Environments, $500 ,000 for
debris management by J .B. Coxwell, and $105 ,000 for debri s
monitoring by DebrisTech.
ATTACHMENTS: I. Debris Removal Activities pursuant to Hurricane Matthew
Memorandum
2. Ceres Environmental Services, Inc. Contract Documents
3. DebrisTech Contract Documents
4. J.B . Coxwell Contracting, Inc. Contract Documents
APPROVED BY CITY MANAGER: -=$--LL,<'....L.LL.h~~=~~~t.LA--e=:lo.........---------
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
MEMORANDUM
Debris Removal Activities Pursuant to Hurricane Matthew
AMENDED AGENDA ITEM 3C
NOVEMBER 14, 2016
Debris management began immediately after Hurricane Matthew passed on Friday evening,
October 7th. Public Works employees responded to clear fallen trees from the City's streets.
The employees worked all weekend long and cleared over 40 trees so our residents could
return safely to their homes. Public Works was prepared to pick up debris immediately after
the hurricane passed, but the COJ Temporary Debris Sites (TDS) were not opened until Monday,
October 10th.
On that Monday, the City contracted with three firms to remove and dispose of the
debris left in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. These firms each had a specific task in the debris
removal aspect of the City's response to Hurricane Matthew. Ceres Environmental was
contracted to haul the debris to a COJ TDS. J.B. Coxwell was contracted to manage the TDS and
dispose of the City's debris which was hauled there. DebrisTech was contracted to document
and keep accurate records of the debris that was removed for FEMA reimbursement purposes .
Ceres was hired by the City in 2011, and their contract was renewed in 2014. J.B. Coxwell was
hired by COJ, and the City piggybacked on their contract. DebrisTech was hired by the City of
Jacksonville Beach, and the City piggybacked on their contract. All three of these contracts
were completed using proper purchasing procedures.
The amounts of each of the contracts, $500,000 for Ceres, $500,000 for J.B. Coxwell,
and $100,000 for Debris Tech were determined bas~d upon preliminary estimates of the
amount of debris from the hurricane. These amounts were considered to be adequate for the
debris we would expect to haul. Because each truck had to have its own monitor (provided by
DebrisTech), their contract amount was dependent upon the strategies used to pick up the
debris. For example, in the beginning of our debris hauling we used the largest trucks we could
to carry away the most debris in the shortest amount of time. Then we found we found we
could not use these large trucks on the very congested, tree canopied roads. These roads had
to be cleared with more, smaller trucks. This required more monitors. At one point in the
debris removal, DebrisTech approached the City and told us they would exceed their $100,000
budget and would probably need an additional $30,000 or more increase . We asked for an
increase in this allotted amount to $150,000, but after discussions and invoice reviews with
DebrisTech , we were able to get them to reduce their invoicing to keep their monitoring costs
closer to $100,000.
On Monday October lOth, Ceres Environmental began to haul the debris to the closest
TDS, the Girvan Road TDS . The City and Ceres coordinated to break the City into zones for
AMENDED AGENDA ITEM 3C
NOVEMBER 14, 2016
debris pick up. The City instructed Ceres to begin their pickups on that Monday in the Ocean
Walk and Selva Marina areas. These areas were the hardest hit; they had the most debris
blocking the neighborhoods.
After Ceres began picking up in these areas, the City re-evaluated the need for debris
pickups in other areas. The main arteries and the area west of Mayport Road were then
cleared. From there, Ceres was directed into other areas of the City determined by the amount
of debris, where it was located, and the availability of Ceres' vehicles. Areas with larger piles of
debris were selected before other areas. Areas with debris piles clear of overhead trees and
power lines were cleared before areas that had power lines above the debris piles or where the
tree canopies prevented the large debris trucks from using their booms. After most of the
largest debris piles were cleared, Ceres pulled its largest trucks out of the City on Wednesday
October 20th to pick up debris in Savannah. These trucks were replaced with smaller trucks
pulling trailers on Thursday, October 21st. We protested the small load carrying capability, and
Ceres promised to have a larger fleet of vehicles on Saturday the 23rd. They were able to bring
in one of their larger haulers on Sunday, and they brought two more large trucks the following
week.
There was a problem with the hauling of "bagged" debris to the TDS. This was
discovered when the first Ceres load reached the TDS on October lOth. The operator ofTDS,
J.B. Coxwell, would not allow these bags to be deposited there. They did not want the plastic to
be mixed in with the mulch they were making by grinding the debris. We protested this every
day beginning on the lOth and did not get a definitive answer until 9:24pm on Tuesday, October
19th! This came directly from Coxwell's management. Once this was finally decided, the City
went to our regular hauler, Advanced Disposal (AD) to pick up this bagged debris. AD began
doing this on Thursday, October 21st. They also began picking up containerized and C & D
debris.
The City did not ask AD to do this sooner because their contract states they could pick
up to 105% of the average amount of yard debris they had picked up in the last three Octobers
before charging an additional fee. After they reach this point which was 147 tons, they would
charge the City $85 a ton for each additional ton. This fee is much greater than the cost of
debris picked up by Ceres.
While trying to get permission to bring bagged debris to the Girvin Road CDS, the City
looked at several options to pick up the bagged debris before allowing AD to do it. We looked
at Ceres opening the bags before picking up the piles. We considered having City employees
going ahead of Ceres to open the bags. We even considered using volunteers to do this. Our
final solution before asking AD to pick up the bags of debris was for City employees to pick up
the bagged debris and bring it to the Public Works complex. They then opened the bags and
loaded the debris onto Ceres' trailers in the Public Works yard. Several loads were done this
way to compare the cost of this disposal to AD's cost for picking up the bags after they reach
the "105%" mark.
We looked at several ways to pick up debris within the City to provide service to our
residents and to keep the costs down. We wanted as many trucks as possible picking up debris
AMENDED AGENDA ITEM 3C
NOVEMBER 14, 2016
throughout the City, and we wanted as much of the debris costs as possible to be reimbursed
by FEMA. The debris picked up and charged to the City by AD is NOT reimbursable by FEMA
due to the way it is handled. Their trucks are not 11Certified".
Besides hauling the debris, there were also two other aspects of debris disposal that had
to be contracted by the City. The debris had to be monitored to make sure the amount was
correct and that it was properly handled up to its final resting place. To do this, we contracted
with Debris Tech to monitor the debris picked up by Ceres and delivered to the TDS.
Jacksonville Beach performed proper purchasing procedures in 2014 to hire DebrisTech, and we
piggybacked off this contract.
The other aspect of debris disposal, debris management, also had to be contracted. We
were originally told that J.B. Coxwell would do this as part of running COJ's TDS. After bringing
debris there for over a week, we were then told that they would not do this without our own
contract with them to do this. They are the COJ's manager of all their TDS's. The COJ followed
proper purchasing procedures to hire Coxwell in 2014. We piggybacked off of this contract.
Coxwell will grind our debris and haul it to its final resting place. To make sure we are paying
the proper fees for debris disposal, Coxwell has placed all our debris at the Girvin Road TDS in a
separate pile.
As we completed each day's debris hauling activities, we posted the results on a map on
our City's website. We showed the streets that were cleaned up to date. There were several
comments that were posted along with our map. Two main concerns were, that some items
are missed. We mentioned that depending on the size of the trucks our debris hauler used and
the location of the debris, we would not be able to pick up all debris during a pass through the
City. This was due to some debris piles being placed under power lines or overhanging
branches. This debris would have to be picked up by another crew with different equipment.
We did not finish our debris hauling until all the debris was picked up. The other concern was
when someone's debris would be collected. There were many variables involved in where the
debris hauler went each day. We attempted to list where the hauler would be, but his route
and activities were subject to change each day due to many factors.
Our first pass of all the streets was completed on Thursday, November 3rd. A second
pass began that day and was completed on Monday, November 8th. A weekly report was kept
of the expenses as of each Sunday. That report is attached. Advanced Disposal returned to
their regular schedules for all sanitation types on Monday, November 7th.
Attachment: Debris Removal Activity Expenses Spreadsheet
As of Date: 10/16/16
Ceres Environmental
Debris hauled {cy) 6941.4
*Expense {$) $58,932.49
DebrisTech
Expense for monitoring{$) $24,952.50
J.B. Coxwell Contracting
Debris disposed {cy) 6941.4
**Expense {$) $65,249.16
Advanced Disposal
Debris hauled {ton) 0
***Expense{$) $0.00
TOTALS: $149,134.15
Atlantic Beach
Debris Removal Activity Expenses
10/23/16 10/30/16 11/6/16
13679.3 18824.7 21839.3
$116,137.26 $159,821.70 $185,415.66
$55,781.75 $84,164.00 $98,776.00
13679.3 18824.7 21839.3
$128,585.42 $176,952.18 $205,289.42
0 91.15 91.15
$0.00 $7,747.75 $7,747.75
$300,504.43 ' .. $428,685.63 $497,228.83
----------------
11/13/16
22046.2
$187,172.24
$101,276.00
22046.2
$207,234.28
91.15
$7,747.75
$503,430.27
*Expense is $8.49 percy
** Expense is $9.40 percy
***Expense is $85 per ton
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