Will contractors come to your Beaufort County neighborhood to pick up Irma debris?

While Tropical Storm Irma proved far less devastating to Beaufort County than last year’s Hurricane Matthew, the storm still left piles of debris in its wake and county leaders pondering what to do with it.

So far, the county has not called in reinforcements in the form of private debris collection contractors — instead opting to open new public debris collection centers.

“We’ve been using county staff and county resources (to man the four debris centers) … so our costs are more contained,” deputy county administrator Josh Gruber said at a Beaufort County Council caucus meeting Monday.

Hurricane Matthew cost the county roughly $35 million for debris cleanup. So far, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has reimbursed a little more than $9 million of that total.

However, as it currently stands, the county would not be eligible for FEMA reimbursement for debris cleanup resulting from Tropical Storm Irma, Gruber said.

County Councilman Paul Sommerville acknowledged that it may be a tough sell to get federal reimbursement dollars given that there are other parts of the country “that are in a lot worse shape than we are.”

Gruber said, “If we are going to do cleanup on a countywide basis, we are going to have to bring in our contractor,” which is likely to cost at least several million dollars.

Rather than activate a debris cleanup contractor, “we have been telling people not to put (debris) out by the side of the road, and to take it to the recovery centers.”

The centers have been established at the following locations:

▪ Ihly Farms, 66 Ihly Farm Road, Beaufort

▪ Pinckney Point, 651 Pinckney Colony Road, Bluffton

▪ Daufuskie, 99 Frances Jones Blvd., Daufuskie Island

▪ Lady’s Island, 490 Brickyard Point South, Beaufort

Inside the county’s municipal boundaries and in various private communities, other pickup sites have also been set up.

Gruber said the Tropical Storm Irma debris cleanup effort provides “a perfect opportunity for neighbors to come together and help neighbors” who may not have a way of hauling tree limbs and the like to the centers.

Councilman Jerry Stewart agreed, saying, “All the help we can get from the citizens … is going to help (keep cleanup cost down) in the long run.”

Councilman Brian Flewelling suggested residents could also burn debris as an alternative method of disposal, so long as they follow county burn regulations.

In addition to debris on roadways, the county has identified four sunken or partially-sunken boats and roughly two dozen other pieces of marine debris, such as broken docks.

But Gruber said none of that marine debris is blocking navigable waterways or appears to be potentially harmful to the environment.

Beaufort County Council did not take up the issue Monday of whether to engage a contractor to help remove debris from waterways.

This story was originally published September 25, 2017 at 7:29 PM with the headline "Will contractors come to your Beaufort County neighborhood to pick up Irma debris?."