LAKEPORT >> The Lake County Board of Supervisors approved another amendment to its hazard tree monitoring contract with Tetra Tech Inc., extending the time needed to complete necessary work until September. The added time may increase the final bill by about $500,000.
This is the second time the contract bumped since it was entered into on Nov.12, 2015. The first extension came on March 22.
According to Assistant Public Works Director Lars Ewing, the deal needed to be stretched a second time because AshBritt — contracted to remove hazard trees from county right-of-ways and private properties in the burn area — is taking longer to finish the job, thus affecting Tetra Tech, which is partly there to ensure the removal is conforming to FEMA reimbursement guidelines. The process can bog down in several areas, including documentation, arborist inspection, and quantifying debris removal.
“It’s an onerous task,” Ewing said, noting that original work period was 60 days. “We’re double the amount of days.”
Primarily, the delays are due to problems with the right-of-entry forms for private properties, which Tetra Tech is also helping to secure.
Public Works Director Scott DeLeon claimed that the county assumed it could use the same documents that were intended for debris removal. But, CalOES would not allow paperwork to be used twice, forcing the county to put in additional effort to get the approval.
The reason for CalOES’s prohibition wasn’t confirmed at the time of this report, but it may have to do with reimbursable project applications to Sacramento.
According to Ewing, the tree removal project may be considered “Category A” debris removal work, which would relieve the county’s share of the cost. Yet, just like many of the potentially eligible recovery projects for assistance, that categorization can’t be assured. In fact, the reimbursement from FEMA and CalOES for Ashbritt and Tetra Tech’s services has yet to be approved.
The county might have to prepare for the worst.
“If we are faced with the worst case scenario, we have contingencies in the road department,” DeLeon said.
The board — which approved the amendment 5-0 — has already canceled more than $5 million in reserves thanks to the fire and one member was not thrilled with the prospect of emptying more coffers.
“Then a whole lot of road work wouldn’t get done,” District 1 Supervisor Jim Comstock said.
The possibility of this fiscal nightmare makes this all the more necessary to the county.
“FEMA requires the county to monitor all contracted debris operations to document this information and ensure that our contractor removes eligible debris,” DeLeon said in a memo to the BOS for its meeting on March 22. “If the county doesn’t monitor contracted debris removal operations to this extent we jeopardize public assistance funding for the project.”
