The Jones County Board of Supervisors met Monday morning, April 27 in a special called meeting to receive proposals for debris monitoring. Four companies submitted bids for the work, which is related to the Easter day storms that passed through Jones County.
The four companies were Thompson Consulting Services from Lake Mary, Florida; True North Emergency Management from Arlington, Texas; Tetra Tech from Maitland, Florida; and Debristech from Picayune, Miss. The supervisors appointed a committee consisting of Beat 3 Supervisor Phil Dickerson, County Administrator/Board Attorney Danielle Ashley, and Jones County CFO Charles Miller to review the proposals and make a recommendation to the supervisors for the rewarding of the bids on Wednesday, April 29.
Miller said that three factors – experience, past relationship with Jones County, and the capacity to do the job – were typically among the things considered in the review process.
The supervisors will be accepting more storm-related proposals later this week, this time for a debris site(s). Some of the requirements for the site(s) include:
*Proposer must show proof of ownership, with no liens or judgments against the property;
*Site must be a minimum of 30 acres;
*Price must be included in the proposal;
*No timber or planted timber can be on the site;
*Site cannot be in a flood zone or wetlands;
*There can be no structures on the site;
*Site must have access to a public road; and
*The site must be outside any municipal corporation limits.
Proposed sites must meet all MDEQ guidelines. For a complete list of requirements, you may contact the Jones County Courthouse in Laurel at 601-428-3139.
The deadline for submitting a proposal for the debris site to Jones County is May 1, 2020, at 2:00 p.m. Proposals must be in a sealed envelope or package and can be mailed to P.O. Box 1468, Laurel, MS 39441. No electronic or faxed proposals will be accepted.
The supervisors prefer that the site(s) be within 25 miles of the areas damaged by the tornado.
“Location is a serious consideration for the site,” mentioned Miller.
“It seems like we are moving mighty slow, but we’re doing what we have to,” noted Board President Johnny Burnett.
EOC Director Paul Sheffield announced Monday that two disaster assistance sites are opening this week, one in Myrick at the United Methodist Church on Lower Myrick Road and one in Gitano. The two sites are from a partnership between the state and faith-based organizations. The site in Myrick should be open today, while the site in Gitano is slated for a Wednesday, April 29 opening.
Sheffield also told the supervisors that the number of residents registered with FEMA is lagging.
“We should be a lot further along as far as the number of people registered,” he said.
Sheffield suggested that the lack of FEMA representatives on the ground in the area, due to COVID-19, might be the primary contributor to the low registrations. Under normal circumstances, FEMA would have approximately 100 representatives in the area. To fill FEMA’s void, local volunteer firemen have been handing out flyers to help residents understand the process of registering with FEMA. Calhoun VFD even put computers in their station so that residents can come and get assistance with applying online. Sheffield said the assistance centers the state is opening is an attempt to give residents a place to go for help.
“The public is use to that. When we have a federally declared disaster, they know they go where FEMA is at to get help. Right now that ain’t happening. FEMA is virtually assisting Jones County; they are not physically in the county. Everything is being done over the phone or the Internet. I think that’s our challenge right now,” he added.
“The volunteers in our county are something,” said Burnett. “You just can’t say enough about our volunteer firefighters. They have really stepped up, making sure everyone is safe and that everyone has food and water. It’s really amazing. Every one of our churches have really stepped up too.”
The supervisors also unanimously passed motions to make emergency purchases for repairs to the Beat 2 county barn and for damaged county vehicles.