Glynn County approves change order for Winter Storm Enzo debris removal as officials warn of rising local costs

Glynn County commissioners approved an authorization for a change order to the purchase order with Series Environmental to cover additional debris removal following Winter Storm Enzo.

Public Works Director Danny Smith told the committee that initial post-storm volume estimates proved lower than the amount crews ultimately collected, and that the contractor’s unit pricing applies regardless of the volume removed. “This is not eligible for FEMA or GEMA reimbursement,” Smith said when asked about federal and state Disaster declarations.

The decision matters because county officials said the higher-than-expected debris volume will fall to local budgets. One commissioner said the total pickup cost “seems to me $715,000 is a lot of money for the total pickup,” and commissioners discussed possible options to limit future local exposure to storm-cleanup costs.

Smith estimated that roughly 25% of the material collected may have been routine yard waste rather than storm-damage debris. Commissioners and staff discussed programmatic and contractual options to reduce future cleanup volumes, including adding yard-waste collection to the county’s sanitation contract and creating a year-round disposal option similar to the City of Brunswick’s yard-waste yard. “If Glynn County had a yard waste program, much like the city of Brunswick does, I think it would reduce the volumes that we see during these storm events,” Smith said.

Staff also described outreach to federal and state elected officials as a step to seek relief and noted the county will explore tapping emergency funds where possible. A county grants/EMA staff member told the committee that FEMA reimbursement thresholds are increasing and that some grants previously awarded for local projects have been rescinded or scaled back; as an example, county plans to fund generators at four fire stations and animal services now face full local cost after federal changes. The staff member said the county historically recovered about 87% of storm expenses through reimbursements for very large storms, but that the rising thresholds mean smaller storms will increasingly be paid locally.

The motion to approve item 13 — the change order authorization for the Winter Storm Enzo debris removal project with Series Environmental — was made, seconded and approved by voice vote (all in favor). The committee did not provide a recorded roll-call tally in the meeting minutes for that motion.

Commissioners asked staff to explore: including yard debris removal options in future sanitation contracts; potential emergency funding sources; and coordination with congressional and state delegations about disaster-assistance thresholds. No further formal actions (ordinances or budget amendments) were approved during the discussion for funding the additional debris removal beyond the change order authorization.

Background: County staff said unit-pricing contracts bill the same per cubic yard whether a crew removes one cubic yard or 100 cubic yards; higher-than-anticipated cubic-yard volumes after Enzo drove the additional cost. Officials compared this event to prior large storms — for example, Hurricane Matthew cleanup was cited as a multi-million-dollar event likely to meet federal thresholds — but said storms with smaller total costs may no longer qualify for federal aid under new FEMA threshold guidance.