The Lake Orion Village Council presented the village department of public works with a daunting task at their May 12 meeting: Free the village of storm debris by the end of the work day on May 23.
The council voted to accept an agreement with Orion Township to receive 10 percent of whatever the township ends up spending on the clean-up, so that the village DPW could handle clean- up in the village. The amount received would be up to $10,000.
DPW director John Ranville said with $10,000, the village would get about six days of work from a private contractor.
“The township has two tree companies doing their clean-up…will this overburden the DPW?” asked council member Charlotte Patton.
“Yes,” said Ranville. “But we are moving right along…We burned twice already. Maybe we could work later at night and have a fire truck out there…once we start stoking that fire up, we burn a lot of debris.”
Ranville said two crews have been out working in the village, starting on the east side.
“I would say by the end of the week, we’ll be done with this side of town, if we can keep two crews on,” he said.
“I’ve had a lot of people asking when this will be done,” said council member Douglas Dendel. “It’s been five weeks, and there’s still a lot of debris.
“If we look like we can’t do it, maybe we should hire someone…we owe it to the residents,” he said.
Ranville said he was told by the village to stop the clean-up for three weeks while they waited to hear from the township.
“You guys are the ones that have been dragging your feet,” he said. “Everyone’s price is $200 an hour, minimum. Some contractors aren’t even available until the fifth of June.
“You’ve waited too long,” said Ranville.
Council member Ken Van Port Fliet said residents can bring the brush out themselves, if they desire.
“The DPW was there and gone (from my house) in 10 minutes with the pile I had,” commented council president Bill Siver.
Council member Harry Stephen said citizens in the village needed a date when the clean-up would be finished, regardless of if the DPW had to work overtime or a private contractor had to be contacted.
“We don’t need to come to another meeting not having it done,” he said.
“Show me some money,” responded Ranville.
Stephen said the village has the support of the township.
“I suggest we set Memorial Day weekend,” he said. “May 23.”
“In 11 days?” asked Patton.
“That will probably cost you about $20,000 to $30,000,” said Ranville. “You’ll have to get three crews in.”
Stephen said if the township thought they could do their entire clean-up with $90,000, the village should be able to accomplish this.
“Maybe we can have someone come and take care of jobs that fall by the way side, so (the DPW) can concentrate on clean-up,” said Van Port Fliet in reference to Ranville’s comment that the DPW also had mowing to begin doing.
The council said any debris not bundled or stacked by the street would not be picked up by the DPW at this time, such as debris in back yards.
“We’ll have to work on that as we can,” said village manager JoAnn Van Tassel. “Let’s get it out of public view, then go back and clean up other areas.”
“People can hire their own contractor to clean up their own backyards,” said Siver.
Van Port Fliet said with some of the debris that might not be possible.
“Do you want it moved to the street…a 160-foot-long pile?” he asked. “It would be a humongous task.”