Town prepares to handle remains of October storm
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

The rapidly approaching spring season has the Town of Amherst preparing for another round of October storm cleanup.

Highway Superintendent Bob Anderson estimates that residents will be placing another 10,000 cubic yards of debris out for pickup, but the available federal funding won't be enough.

"When (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) came through during the middle of January and looked on the streets there was only 1,000 cubic yards out, so $25,000 was all they gave us," he said, about being granted money to finish the cleanup.

To date the town has collected approximately 1 million cubic yards of debris.

The Town Board discussed the situation at Monday's work session and is planning to bid out the work. Anderson said he will prepare the request this week.

"We are looking at picking up a lot of material. It won't be a normal brush pickup," he said.

Beginning April 1, town residents can place small bundles of sticks, no longer than 4 feet, or other debris in open containers, out for refuse pickup. The debris must be organized for crews to pick it up.

Normal brush pickup begins in May and lasts for one month, but due to the unusual amount of debris still remaining in town, Anderson said his crew won't be able to handle the mass in that amount of time.

The highway crews also continue to remove branches from streams, ditches and parks.

It depends on the bids received by the town as to how long the $25,000 will last. Supervisor Satish Mohan said he has heard of one contractor who will do the work for half the cost, which would allow for 2,000 cubic yards to be collected. But a formal contract has not been set.

Because the town is not in a state of emergency the work must be bid out.

Anderson said he expects a contractor to be in place by the beginning of May. Until then, residents have the option of removing debris from their properties in the small bundles.

The town is also continuing to assess the trees themselves. Anderson said the Erie County arborist crews are half way through the town, which has 11,000 trees in the public right of way that need to be assessed.

"The running ratio is 75 to 80 percent. For every 100 trees they are looking at, 75 to 80 have to come down," Anderson said.

The contract requires that all trees be assessed by the first week in April - which does not mean that trees will be cut at that time.

Anderson said the Tree Consortium is still meeting and developing ideas for the town.