Debris-Clearing Bill Tops $11 Million

Ice storm debris removal work continues throughout Tulsa and the hauling contractor hauled 21,740 cubic yards Tuesday, bringing the total since operations began in early January to 2,277,096 cubic yards.

The city is paying $3.79 per cubic yard for hauling and the total bill so far is $8,630,194 and growing.

A second contractor is grinding the collected tree debris into wood chips. As of Wednesday, some 67,029 cubic yards of chips (mulch) have been hauled to final disposal sites. The City is paying $4.68 per cubic yard for that work and the bill so far is $313,695.

Mulch-grinding operations continued until midnight Tuesday at the Johnson Park temporary disposal site. It will continue until midnight tonight, then 24-hour operations are expected to begin Thursday.

A third contractor is responsible for monitoring the debris removal and disposal work. Monitoring costs documented through Feb. 23 total $2,233,734.

The total, non-audited, cost for work done by all three contractors to date is $11,177,624.

The City expects that much of the debris removal costs will be reimbursed by the federal government through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Citizens who still have tree debris to be picked up are advised to move it to the curb. Debris should be stacked near the curb but not close to mail boxes, utility meters or equipment or other obstacles that would prevent haulers from easily accessing the debris piles. Motorists are also asked to avoid parking in front of debris piles because the parked vehicles block access and prevent the debris from being removed.

Anyone with questions or who believes their property was missed when haulers worked on their streets can report it to the Mayor’s Action Center at 596-2100.