Storm cleanup moving well, but there's a long way to go DOT bringing more crews to Carroll next week
Gene Borchoff cuts a tree limb secured by Dave Castle as members of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Jewish disaster response team Nechama remove ice-storm debris from a yard along Valley Drive in Carroll earlier this week. Nechama, a Hebrew word for “comfort,” provides aid to elderly, poor, single parents and the disabled. Formed in the mid-1990s in response to flooding in Iowa, Nechama assisted following natural disasters in Minnesota, North Da-kota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Borchoff is originally from Waverly and resides in Plymouth, Minn., while Castle is from Anoka, Minn. Also pictured are Twin Cities residents Dan Hoeft (right) and Howard Simon. — Photo by Jeff Storjohann
"There's no way we can do Carroll in three days. I don't care how many teams we send in there."
-- Phil Heinlen, Iowa DOT
"We're going to keep the DOT busy. We're going to get as much brush out of town as we can. It won't be all of it, but it'll be a lot."
The Iowa Department of Transportation intends to have five teams of loader-grapplers and trucks picking up ice-storm debris in Carroll next week, local officials were told Thursday.
The Carroll County Board of Supervisors, Emergency Management and representatives from cities met to discuss the remaining cleanup schedule, which has been extended to Feb. 19 and might run even longer.
Two DOT teams assisted by inmates from the Rockwell City Correctional Facility cleared curbside debris at Arcadia, Breda, Mount Carmel and Maple River on Wednesday and Thursday.
"I can't say enough about the prisoners and the DOT," Breda Mayor Don Masching told the supervisors during Thursday's meeting at the courthouse. "All we have left is the park area, and we can handle that ourselves."
Supervisor Dan Nieland said crews encountered more storm debris than was expected and the cleanups have taken a little longer than anticipated but nevertheless went well.
"I hope it goes the same in the other communities," he said. "The thing that scares me is the city of Carroll."
The pickup operation was to resume at Glidden this morning, weather permitting. Inmates were to be helping pick up yards at Manning and Lanesboro.
Curbside pickup at Carroll is slated to run Monday through Wednesday. Phil Heinlen, a highway maintenance supervisor, said the DOT was bringing three additional crews for Carroll.
The DOT will be picking up at Ralston, Willey, Dedham and Coon Rapids on Thursday; Coon Rapids, Roselle and Halbur on Friday, Feb. 19; Manning on Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 15 and 16; and Lidderdale, Lanesboro and Templeton on Wednesday, Feb. 17.
The schedule has been extended to do pickup at Swan Lake State Park Feb. 17-19, and Carroll County officials might ask the state to have DOT crews pick up and haul brush for a longer period. Heinlen noted that Calhoun and Sac counties have also requested cleanup assistance by the DOT but the state has yet to issue work orders for those counties.
Emergency Management coordinator Sara Nielsen said she wanted the supervisors' direction on several "gray areas" related to storm cleanup.
She said individual and group volunteers are cutting damaged limbs and stacking branches in Carroll but her office still has a list of more than 40 homeowners requesting assistance.
"We're getting calls from outside city limits too," she said. "What do we tell these people?"
Nieland said rural residents were being solicited by tree services just like city dwellers had been, with estimates ranging from $3,500 to $6,000.
"What are we going to do? Good question," he said.
"The rural - it'd be nice if we could do some, but I don't think logistically it's going to work," remarked chairman Gene Meiners.
Added Nieland, "In the rural areas I don't see anything happening until the snow melts and the mud dries up, and then it's neighbor helping neighbor. And we've seen a lot of that already."
Tree-service firms and community groups from outside the county are offering to volunteer if someone would cover their travel, fuel and other expenses, Nielsen said.
Perhaps homeowners needing help could pay for those expenses, commission director Jeff Cayler posed. Meiners and supervisor Mark Beardmore liked that idea but said the county would need to establish guidelines.
"We can't be cleaning up a five-acre grove," Beardmore added.
"We have to clean up the communities first. It's more of a safety issue," said supervisor Marty Danzer.
Beardmore agreed, saying that's the approach utility companies had for restoring power after the Jan. 20 ice storm.
"They have the most bodies," he said. "And then try to get out to these (rural) people and make it a countywide cleanup."
Several supervisors pointed out that a state disaster declaration makes a low-income homeowner eligible for up to $1,000 in cleanup assistance and up to $5,000 in total disaster assistance.
"That's something the county did facilitate. You're not left out," Beardmore commented.
The supervisors told Nielsen to continue adding those outside city limits requesting cleanup assistance to a list, saying the county would deal with those residents after communities are cleaned up.
Heinlen noted that even in towns where the DOT has finished curbside pickup, a quarter to a third of storm debris remains on the ground.
"There's a lot of stuff that's buried" in snow, said Meiners. "I think each community is going to have to do its own cleanup. This (DOT operation) is just to help them get the biggest stuff done. People have to pull up their bootstraps."
As for other "gray areas," Nielsen asked the supervisors about using the DOT crews at county parks or the Carroll Country Club.
County Conservation director Mark River said the storm damage at Swan Lake represents 90 percent of the damage at all county conservation areas.
"If we can get (the DOT to pick up at) Swan Lake, I'd feel comfortable. We can take care of the others on our own," he told the supervisors. "Anything will help."
Representatives from the Country Club asked the supervisors to use the DOT crews to pick up branches they'd pile at the Carroll Bowl parking lot. Board member Randy Hockom said those branches would come from trees on the upper part of the 18-hole course, while the lower portion is inaccessible because of snow and branches there would be gathered and burned in the spring.
"If we do the Country Club, are we going to get others outside of city limits?" Nieland asked.
And where to haul the brush, he added. While each community has a dump site, the ones closest to the Country Club are at the landfill, Lidderdale and Dedham.
The supervisors said they'd consider DOT crews for other pickups after the cities and Swan Lake are finished.
"I think our priority is this list right now," said Meiners, referring to the community cleanup schedule. "Let's see how it goes."
As for the cleanup at Carroll next week, Heinlen said, "There's no way we can do Carroll in three days. I don't care how many teams we send in there."
If the community cleanups go faster than expected, DOT crews will spend the leftover time at Carroll.
The city is awaiting a decision on a federal disaster declaration before deciding whether to hire private contractors to assist with curbside cleanup, city manager Gerald Clausen and city engineer Randy Krauel told the supervisors. Contracting could cost several hundred thousand dollars, and a federal declaration would cover 75 percent of cleanup costs.
The federal government has until Feb. 25 to decide on a disaster declaration.
Krauel noted that the five DOT crews - each consisting of a grabber mounted on a loader and several trucks with trailers - will work north-south streets then switch to east-west streets.
Residents are asked to have brush piled parallel to the curb and within reach of the loaders. Keep branches away from tree trunks, fire hydrants and other obstructions.
"We're going to keep the DOT busy," said Krauel. "We're going to get as much brush out of town as we can. It won't be all of it, but it'll be a lot."
The Carroll Police Department will impose temporary parking restrictions during the cleanup and might ticket or tow vehicles parked on streets.
"If there are branches at the curb and a vehicle is blocking access to those branches, the crew's just going to move on to the next one, and your branches will be left behind," said Capt. Mark Heino.
Authorities are also asking folks to use caution when driving during the cleanup opera-tion.
"Be alert as you turn a corner to make sure the block you're about to enter is open," said Heino. "If a DOT crew is ahead of you, move a block over. You won't lose much time."
Cities yet to be cleaned up asked Emergency Management to arrange inmate labor. Officials from the communities already done said the prisoners are extremely hard workers and aren't safety risks. Each crew is supervised by prison guards.
Nielsen said the county can access prison labor for as long as it requests.
