Carrboro Officials Announce That Cleanup of Debris Will Continue Into February

Carrboro residents will have to wait several more weeks before the debris from the December ice storm is cleaned up completely.

But on Tuesday, town officials promised the cleanup will go more quickly now that a debris removal company has been hired.

The Board of Aldermen voted 6-0 at a special meeting Tuesday night to award a contract to Five Oaks Builders Inc., of Madisonville, Ky., to take over the debris collection efforts.

Town public works crews started collecting debris immediately after the ice storm hit Dec. 4 and 5. So far, they have reached about one-half of the town's roadways and have taken about 4,000 cubic yards of debris to the Orange County Regional Landfill.

Chris Peterson, Carrboro's public works director, estimates another 10,000 cubic yards still remain on the ground.

The contracted firm will begin working at 8 a.m. today and will work 10 hours per day, six days per week until the cleanup is complete.

It will focus its efforts on all the areas the public works crews haven't cleaned yet, and then it will clean the entire town in a second and final sweep.

Debris removal will move more quickly because the Five Oaks crews will be able to haul almost five times what the town's public works staff could do in a day.

"It will look like a calvary compared to our people," Peterson said.

The town's crews will fall back and collect debris on driveways that service multiple houses.

Town officials said they hope to have the cleanup completed by Feb. 12.

Carrboro Mayor Mike Nelson asked for the public's patience concerning the cleanup effort.

"This is an enormous amount of debris, and it is going to take a while to get it off the streets," he said.

Cleanup from the storm will cost Carrboro more than $40,000, most of which will be paid for by federal disaster money. The remaining 25 percent is normally picked up by the state, but Carrboro officials don't expect to get that money because of the state's financial crisis.

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.