Commissioners OK $7.3M in contracts related to Ida assistance

The county’s top elected officials authorized more than $7.3 million in contracts in a unanimous vote nearly six months after the remnants of Hurricane Ida ripped through the area.

Of note, the trio of Montgomery County Commissioners approved sevenfigure revisions to a previously awarded contract for debris services during a Feb. 17 board meeting. DRC Emergency Services LLC, of Galveston, Texas, required about $7,290,907 more for “continued response services.”

The initial agreement stipulated terms for “disaster debris clearance and removal for Montgomery County in the event of an emergency.”

According to the sevenfigure contract with the Texas-based firm, additional services included the “removal of damaged appliances, furniture, debris from damaged homes, household hazardous waste, removal of damaged hazardous trees and removal of debris and damaged trees from public areas, parkland, trails and waterways.”

The total figure now stands at $9.5 million, according to the contract.

Funding is being sourced from the county’s general fund, according to the revised contract, but officials “are seeking federal/ state reimbursement under public assistance disaster 4618-DR-PA.”

As numerous area residents continue to feel the impacts of the Sept. 1, 2021, storm, a contract between the county’s Health and Human Services Department, and GoGo Grandparent, of San Francisco, for a “transportation assistance program” for those “in need of rides to and from hotel accommodations in relation to school, work or housing inquiries.”