County Commissioners approve intergovernmental agreement and contract for debris cleanup program

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County Commissioners approve intergovernmental agreement and contract for coordinated debris cleanup program

Today, the Boulder County Commissioners unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement and a contract required to begin a coordinated Private Property Debris Removal (PPDR) program for residences destroyed in the Marshall Fire.

The City of Louisville and the Town of Superior previously approved the intergovernmental agreement. More than 800 property owners across the three jurisdictions have opted in to the PPDR program.

The Commissioners also approved a $60 million contract with DRC Emergency Services, LLC, (DRC) which will be responsible for completing debris removal work for property owners who have opted into the program.

“This is an exciting day, as we are able to move the program forward and provide more certainty on timeline for the Marshall Fire survivors,” said Commissioner Matt Jones. “We will continue to do everything we can to help.”

In a final necessary step to start the program, the Commissioners also approved a recommendation from county, Louisville, and Superior staff to award a bid for soil sampling to TetraTech at an estimated amount of $762,923. The staff recommendation was based on the proposal documents submitted by three bidders, with TetraTech receiving the highest scores from the bid review team on pricing, quality of services offered, and most relevant experience.

Soil sampling will take place at each property after debris is removed in order to provide property owners with information about whether hazardous contaminants such as heavy metals exist on each site. For the expected small number of properties where these contaminants are identified, the PPDR program will work with property owners on the potential to remove additional topsoil to ensure sites are safe for reconstruction.

For next steps, DRC staff and other contractors will be in the field to prepare specific information about each site. Property owners may see arborists, inspectors, and other staff marking items on properties in anticipation of clean-up. This required preparatory work is expected to take one- to two-weeks before work with heavy equipment begins on individual properties. Once underway, the PPDR program is expected to last about four months.

Boulder County will host an online community meeting at 6 p.m. next Tuesday, March 29, to provide additional information to impacted property owners regarding:

• Schedule and locations
• Advance prep work prior to debris removal
• Project monitoring, inspection, and management
• Soil sampling
• Program inclusions

Meeting details are being finalized and will be provided later this week.

Updated information about the debris removal program and the upcoming public meeting is available at www.BoCo.org/Marshall-Debris-Cleanup.