Foley discusses debris cleanup

By Jessica Vaughn
Posted 10/28/20

FOLEY - When asked about the process for the rest of the debris cleanup in Foley, Public Works Superintendent Darrell Russell said one thing was key.

“Patience. They’re doing the best that …

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Foley discusses debris cleanup

Posted

FOLEY - When asked about the process for the rest of the debris cleanup in Foley, Public Works Superintendent Darrell Russell said one thing was key.

“Patience. They’re doing the best that they can do, and I know that some people are going to be last for pickup and some people are going to be first, but it’s going to be a little bit more time to go,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of stuff on the ground. I’ve started running our city trucks to try to get the smaller piles and the mixed items to try to keep the damage control down. We’re working on it every day.”

Presently there are over 50 trucks working in the City of Foley, which mayor-elect Ralph Hellmich says is one of the largest numbers of crews in the county besides Baldwin County itself. He said the city had unfortunately paid a steep price for being a Tree City.

“We’ve already far exceeded the debris from Hurricane Ivan,” Hellmich said. “There’s some questions about the stumps that are out there. The stumps are picked up a different way, and FEMA recompensates the city per stump which is done differently so those are generally done towards the end of cleanup … People just need to be patient, and if your pile of debris gets picked up except for a few items then just go out and rake it up. That’ll help get it picked up quicker with the city trucks running the routes now, as they can get the smaller piles.”

Overall, Russell stated it would be a process that could easily take until December or the first of 2021 to complete. When asked if a second round of collection would be made once the first was finished, he said a second, third, and possibly more passes would be performed.

Another concern brought on by the remaining debris is those who want to burn the piles.

“One of our biggest call volumes for the last month has been people either complaining about burning or wanting to burn debris,” said Fire Chief Joey Darby. “The ADEM burn ban is still in effect until Nov. 1, however we’re cautioning everybody that doesn’t just mean you can burn at that point. Obviously city ordinance takes precedence over ADEM burn ban and quite frankly the majority of calls that we’ve either been to as nuisance calls or calls of people asking about people burning debris have been people within town. They won’t be eligible anyway [when the burn ban lifts].”

For more information on the City of Foley, check out their website at https://cityoffoley.org.