Debris cleanup from Winter Storm Fern complete in one of the three affected districts

• Extensions were required for the ongoing cleanup work in Districts 1 and 2.

Monitoring services related to the removal of debris left by Winter Storm Fern are increasing, but the Mississippi Department of Transportation expects to be reimbursed for the related expense.

Fern blanketed the north Mississippi region in ice and snow for days in late January, causing significant debris from downed trees.

During the August 25 meeting of the Mississippi Transportation Commission, two supplemental agreements for two of those contracts were approved.

The first increased the contract with DebrisTech LLC out of Picayune from $1.2 million to $2.2 million, and the second increased the contract with True North Emergency Management LLC out of Jackson from $5.9 million to $7.8 million.

DebrisTech LLC is overseeing the work in District 3, while True North was hired to provide the service in District 2.

Commissioner John Caldwell (R) asked why the contracts for the work was increasing by so much.

MDOT Executive Director Brad White said the contracts are for monitoring services to ensure the contractors doing the actual removal of debris are cutting what is supposed to be cut and performing work that can be reimbursed by the federal government through FEMA. 

“As we got into this, the amount of debris that was needing to be removed for safety reasons as well as just on the side of the highways was much greater than what the quantities came in at, and so the time had to be extended,” White described during the meeting. 

White said he believes there is a better way to prepare in the future, such as having contracts in place before storms strike. Doing so would put MDOT in a better position when negotiating prices. 

“So, it’s certainly not lost on me that there is much room for improvement and I do think that we’ve identified that and we are having conversations that I hope to bring back to the commission with a different approach that can be used in the future,” White said. 

“It’s like we’re rewarding some people who haven’t done a great job with a pretty pricey addendum,” Commissioner Caldwell noted. “So, I got a little issue with that.”

Magnolia Tribune reached out to MDOT for further information on the matter. In an emailed response, MDOT said the state agency had enlisted the services of three companies to oversee the debris removal work in response to Winter Storm Fern. In addition to the other two companies listed above, MDOT also hired Thompson Engineering to oversee debris removal work in District 1. Thompson Engineering’s contract is currently at $2.88 million, as stated by MDOT in the emailed response.

A request for the initial bids for all three contracts did not garner a response from MDOT by press time.

David Kenney, Public Information Officer for the Northern Division, said that “debris monitoring services provide specialized oversight of disaster debris removal to ensure federal compliance, accurate documentation and efficient federal funding and reimbursements.”

The extra expense, officials said, is the result of the “enormity” of the damage caused by Fern, leading to more debris being added to initial totals. This has resulted in several contracts requiring extensions, including the monitoring services.

“It is common and expected in natural disasters for monitoring services to increase debris amounts from the initial assessment,” Kenney replied in the email. “One example is because the storm damage was done in the winter months, many limbs that may have been damaged were bare. Their need for removal may not be apparent until spring and summer months, when they don’t grow leaves and are deemed dead and will have to be removed.”

Kenney added that work to remove debris in District 3 is now complete. However, work continues in the other two affected districts.

“But operations continue in Districts 1 and 2. They anticipate cleanup in those districts to conclude in early November, at which time we will have a total amount of the cost of debris monitoring and the cleanup,” Kenney said. “MDOT’s debris monitoring for winter storm Fern has been massive, where we had over 180 debris monitoring personnel working on a single day in one district.”

Full reimbursement is expected to come from FEMA for both the debris monitoring services and cleanup work, along with any debris removal costs incurred by MDOT’s maintenance crews.