Soon clean-up work on the drainage areas of Picayune will be contracted out to the local contractor with the best bid.

The job will deal with drainage areas in the Picayune area and will involve removal of storm debris, said Shannon McCarty, agricultural engineer with National Resource Conservation Services.

McCarty said the bids should be within the range of $250,000 to $500,000 and those bids will need to be turned in to their Jackson office by 4:30 p.m. Dec. 8. The 10 sites proposed in the project will need to be completed in 78 days and work is to begin within three days after the bid is accepted, McCarty said.

To do the job in that time frame, the contractor and his crew will be expected to work 10-hour days, seven days a week. McCarty said there will be a liquidated damages penalty of $148 for each day the job is incomplete after the initial 78 days.

An inspector will be on the job during the week, but during the weekend the contractor will be expected to work out any problems or wait until Monday to have them resolved.

The work will consist of storm debris to be removed from 15 feet from the top of the bank back, any debris outside that area is not part of the cleanup, McCarty said. If there is a large tree that does not fall completely into the clean-up area then the part in the clean up area is expected to be removed while the remainder outside the clean-up area will not be the contractors responsibility.

Stumps with root balls are to be removed if they are mostly out of the ground due to storm damage, otherwise they are to be put back in the ground as best they can to prevent digging near the banks.

“We’re not here to dig out stumps from the banks,” McCarty said.

Avoiding any unnecessary digging will keep erosion along the banks to a minimum, she said. Any debris, such as refrigerators, that does not appear to be a direct cause of the storm is not to be cleaned out. If there is debris that is questionable, such as blown down fencing, then McCarty suggested that the contractor contact the inspector to get an opinion.

Healthy trees are to be left healthy during the clean up process, McCarty said.

“This is not a clear cut operation, so I don’t want contractors cutting everything in the 15 foot area,” she said.

During the cleanup, the contractor is responsible for finding a certified dump site for the debris since NRCS will document where the debris will be dumped. Also, if there is any damage done to personal property during the cleanup, the contractly six miles of proposed clean-up area.

Other people directly related with the cleanup are soil conservation technician Allen Hughes, director of public works Chad Frierson and David Smith, district conservationist for Pearl River County.