lake county >> Thousand of trees considered dangerous have yet to be removed from the Valley Fire area and expenses for the project are increasing.
Lars Ewing, Public Service Director for Lake County said the cost to remove trees would go up by $194,540, which will take the total contract to $632,498. The increase is due to the need for traffic control, rising timber disposal rates, liability insurance and the loss of timber merchantability.
“The project itself was to remove threats to county roads and other public properties that were presented from trees that burned in the Valley Fire, so those that may fall and land on the road or people on the road and present a hazard to the general public,” Ewing said.
He added that this update would be a phase two of the tree removal project after the county’s contract ended with Ashbritt. The contractor did remove thousands of damaged and dangerous trees, but was not able to gain rights of entry to some private properties in time. As a result, the county discontinued the contract and opened a new bid process.
Warner Enterprises, Inc. (WEI) will perform the work as the project begins again.
Since there was a large gap of time between losing the contract with Ashbritt and then contracting with WEI, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) informed the county that the nature of the project has changed.
“The first phase was done under emergency procedures for environmental clearance but because so much time had passed they (FEMA) decided to go through the normal procedures of environmental clearance,” Ewing said.
District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown said he was concerned with the almost 40 percent increase in the funds needed to do the work and that it could probably be done for a lot less.
“I’m having a hard time with the roughly 40 percent increase,” Brown said. “The reasons given are good reasons, but not for that much of an increase.”
The county approved the Contract Change Order with the ability to do a line-out process on what expenses may be reduced in the updated agreement. Since this is potentially reimbursable work, with FEMA and the state returning funds, the line-out process prevents the county from paying the increase up front.
The County approved this contract with the corporation in September 2016 to remove trees that would be hazardous to the community. Since WEI needed a series of permits, they have not yet been able to start their operation.
