City hires Poor Boy to pick up debris
By Staff
from staff reports
Oct. 9, 2004
The Meridian City Council hired Poor Boy Tree Service of Fair Play, Mo., on Friday to clear 4,167 tons of Hurricane Ivan debris piled high at various Meridian street corners and city rights-of-way.
Crews are expected to begin picking up the trees, limbs, leaves and other debris by Wednesday.
The council voted unanimously Friday in a special meeting to hire Poor Boy, the lowest bidder. The city will pay Poor Boy $90 per ton for the debris they remove.
In order to serve all areas of the city in a timely manner, the city has been divided into quadrants and at least one crew will work in each quadrant until all debris is removed.
The city will be divided north and south by 20th Street and east and west by 29th Avenue. Each crew will begin at the center point of the quadrants and fan out from there.
Poor Boy will make two complete runs through the city, and residents will get a one-week notice before the second run in case their debris was not curbside during the first run.
In order for debris to be removed, it must be at the street or curb. Size does not matter. All yard debris will be picked up.
During this special clean-up, Waste Management will not pick up yard debris as it ordinarily does. All yard debris, whether from the hurricane or routine yard maintenance, will be picked up by Poor Boy.
Crews will work Monday-Saturday during the day. To assist in the work, the city has hired six former city employees who are familiar with the community. Four will serve as field monitors, working with the crews to make sure debris from every home is picked up.
The others will serve as office workers, handling the paperwork to ensure proper documentation of the amount of debris picked up and hauled to Sowaco.
Poor Boy was awarded the contract under a bid process required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. By following FEMA guidelines, the city will be reimbursed for 75 percent of the clean-up cost by FEMA and 12.5 percent by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
Any resident who needs more information or who needs to report debris not picked up should call 485-1970.
