Helping hands worth cost

Some Chattanooga taxpayers will balk at the idea of paying a pair of outside contractors up to $2.5 million to collect brush and other storm debris left behind after the city was pummeled by a series of death-dealing tornadoes and storms on April 27. They are right to question the expenditure, but sometimes spending money makes sense. This is one of those times.

City Public Works employees worked hard after the storms to clear the streets. They've continued to remove storm-related debris from curbsides even as they fulfill their regular tasks like garbage collection. Doing both, however, has strained, if not overwhelmed, the department's resources. Given the unprecedented amount of storm damage, that is unsurprising.

The City Council's approval of the outside contract, then, is timely. A city spokesman said this week that the 311 center had about 8,000 requests for brush pickup. Public Works officials added that it could take up to 18 weeks for city employees to remove storm debris. That's far too long for it to remain.

The unsightly brush is both a safety and an esthetic issue. There are numerous reports of places where unsightly piles of tree branches and other materials obstruct sight lines at intersections, or make it difficult for homeowners to leave their driveways. The use of outside contractors should expedite the clean-up process.

The crews already have started work in the Brainerd area. In coming days and weeks, they will move systematically from neighborhood to neighborhood across the city. Once done, they'll repeat the neighborhood-by-neighborhood sweeps. The result should be a safer and more attractive city in a relatively short expanse of time.

Officials say removal of the storm-related debris likely will be completed in a month or so with the help of the contractors. That's three, or four times quicker than city employees could finish the task. And it should be done at a reasonable cost, always a desirable goal when public money is involved.

While the City Council approved a maximum expenditure of $2.5 million for the work, the final price could be considerably lower depending on the amount of debris eventually collected. In addition, the city treasury will not bear the entire cost of the contracts with the two North Carolina-based firms. Grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and TEMA, its Tennessee counterpart, will cover the lion's share - 87.5 percent - of the final bill. The city will pay the remaining 12.5 percent of the cost.

That's an agreement that weds the need to complete a massive task in an expedient manner with the understandable desire to do so in a fiscally responsible way. Even the city's most tight-fisted taxpayers should see that the City Council's agreement to hire outside contractors to help remove tons of brush is an exercise in prudent government.

Upcoming Events