Storm cleanup’s second phase lacks funds

By Linda Alice Dewey
Sun contributor

Glen Arbor’s power and roads are thankfully functioning again, and miraculous near-miss stories abound. In one sense, the townspeople are ebullient as they embark on an unfathomable cleanup task. Landowners with five, 10, 20 or more trees to remove are looking at a cost of thousands of dollars; in many cases, tens of thousands. Most insurance companies cover only a small portion — if any — of tree and brush removal that is not threatening insured structures or blocking roads.

Homeowners turning to local government for help are being encouraged to take the initiative in their own cleanup. When asked about the many who cannot do so without assistance, Glen Arbor Township supervisor John Soderholm says that the township has a good start on this front. Last week, it approved a proposal brought by the Southern Baptist Convention of Michigan, which offered to send in their chainsaw brigade — the third largest in the country. Within days of the Aug. 2 storm, two teams had arrived. To get on the waiting list for this free service, interested homeowners should sign up at the Town Hall. Only private property owners may apply — no rentals or businesses.

Leelanau County is trying to contact a second organization, Team Rubicon, that does have heavier equipment but is working now in Grand Traverse County, according to Leelanau County’s emergency management director Matt Ansorge. The calls have not been returned. “Unfortunately, this is such a widespread storm that it affects a number of counties,” he observes. “Leelanau County is not the first on their list of counties.”

In addition, says Soderholm, “the county is in the process of trying to secure some kind of relief from the state. It will probably be two to three weeks before that will be known.” To do that, a damage assessment must be made. “Quite frankly,” said Ansorge, “our damage assessment team for the county is not capable of doing all of this assessment … We are trying to get volunteers to go around and assess some of the damage … This involves collecting numbers that would go to get state funding.” Not only are the assessments key to bringing in emergency funds, “… A lot of those assessments,” Ansorge suggests, “may prompt the Small Business Association to issue loans for business owners to recover funds.” To join the team, call Ansorge at 231-256-8775. No experience is necessary.

When asked if the county has contacted other services, Ansorge replies, “[A]ny service that will make it more manageable for the homeowner, we’re going to look into that. We are trying to establish debris collection sites and how we are going to manage that to get that off of private property,” answers Ansorge.

Many wonder why the County Road Commission isn’t picking up brush along roadsides as it is in Traverse City. Late Monday morning, County Road Commission engineer-manager James Johnson said in a statement, “At the present time we are still trying to open two roads up to two lanes, County Road 675 and Northwood Drive in Glen Arbor. In both cases, we had to stay out of there because the power company needed the space.” Johnson said that now the crews can get back in and finish the job. When asked what the next job is, once that is finished, he answered, “Shoulder of road and out to the ditch line to clear the portions of the trees that have fallen in the road.”

Regarding funds for brush cleanup, Johnson commented, “In contrast to the city of Traverse City, the Glen Arbor Township government or the Leelanau Board of Commissioners, the money we use is restricted funds to road maintenance. Traverse City also receives general tax revenue, and they can use discretion in spending that on a wide variety of things. We don’t have that discretion available to us. General government has to deal with questions that are not road questions — Glen Arbor Township or Leelanau County’s Board of Commissioners.”

Johnson indicated that the Road Commission may or may not be available to help on such projects funded by other sources, such as brush cleanup, depending upon the current situation with road maintenance. “Keep in mind that we have limited resources in money, personnel, equipment,” he said. “Our mission is to maintain roads. If we could help another part of government without jeopardizing road maintenance, [we will,] but to leave that job might not be in the best interests [of the public].”

He suggested that local “governments might be better served to hire other contractors. If we stopped everything else — neglected pot hole patching, sealing roads, getting ready for winter snows…We just can’t neglect our prime mission.”

However, said added, “We help advise on what contractors to use many times. Village of Empire asked us seal a street.” Johnson’s reply was basically, if we can assist you without jeopardizing our main mission of road maintenance, we’ll be glad to do it. “But if you can get it done cheaper elsewhere, I’m going to be the first to tell you.”

When Johnson was asked whether he would help Glen Arbor choose a contractor, he said, “I’ve been in contact with the township supervisor several times this last week. We have those discussions. He’s got some very good ideas and we’ve compared notes, yes.”

When asked by the Sun about brush and debris collection, the Road Commission’s administrator replied, “The Road Commission is cleaning up the debris in the roadways. The problem we have is the areas where people are bringing their yard debris into the roadway or shoulders anticipating we will clean it up. That is what we are asking people not to do.” For those who can’t afford to hire out these services, Ansorge and Soderholm suggest they sign up for the Baptist chainsaw brigade.

Many, however, don’t perceive this as much of an option. “This is not the kind of thing that a few chainsaws are going to accomplish,” observed Bob Johnson of Arbor Pines, across M-109 from Alligator Hill. “[C]leanup will take months and much heavy equipment, because the thousands of trees that were blown down are old and massive.” The Sportsman’s Shop’s Captain Bob Smith, also of Arbor Pines, agrees. “It’s going to take commercial equipment to cut these huge trees into logs,” says Smith. “Then they’re going to have to come in with something to grab the logs and lift them onto trucks that can haul them away.”

Ansorge understands that chainsaws will not take care of the entire job for many. But, he says, they might help. “If they can make it manageable for the homeowner, maybe the homeowner can coordinate some kind of pickup service.”

If funding is the problem, some citizens have expressed an interest in creating a disaster relief fund to take on the job. On its website, Cherry Republic is offering to match donations, dollar for dollar, to aid private property owners in the massive cleanup this fall and to plant trees this coming spring. “We need a shared hiring where all of Glen Arbor or the county hires someone or the county road commission does more,” said owner Bob Sutherland.

Given the commission’s legal restrictions, Sutherland suggested that, “maybe there’s a combination: one company brings debris to the road, then the road commission can do what’s brought to the road. They could do it the cheapest of anyone, if we could get the funds for them…” Sutherland believes that citizens and government can work together to coordinate the work. He says that his fundraising efforts are not coordinated with anyone else at the moment, but that he sees Cherry Republic’s effort as “seed money to get the county and township and others to get the town cleaned up. That means all the private property.”

“The township is the natural one to take the lead on this,” Sutherland concludes.

“We’re willing to work with him and discuss that,” answers Soderholm. “We are in conversation with the county on a possible collaboration,” he adds. “It’s probably in the best interest for the county to take away what’s by the road, but they are not prepared to fund that at the moment.” He points out that “the road commission … can’t clean up lawns. Yard cleanup close to the road but not on the road is a possibility but funding is a problem.”

“I support that,” responds Ansorge on first hearing Sutherland’s proposal. “Excellent idea. We would have to be working through some local contractors to get this done.” But he warns that the road commission could get into trouble if they are contracted to do private work. “There could be legal issues, he says. “It might not be possible. The idea works in theory. There would be a lot of costs involved to have a service drive down the street and take brush along the side of the street and chip it up as they go. Brush might be too large for the chipper and that might anger homeowners as well. I can see a lot of obstacles with that.” However, he concedes that Traverse City must have faced these issues in its brush pickup operation which is currently taking place.

Soderholm advises homeowners not to wait to see if funding comes through. “Nobody has to wait,” he says. Upon hearing rumors of overcharging by non-local companies, he advises, “Don’t treat the first quote as the only quote. There is variation between companies.”

“Hopefully we can have [more] organizations like Team Rubicon and the Baptists,” Ansorge says. “Depending on how this works out, there may be grants to reimburse those costs or partial costs. Everyone should save records for any kind of restoration that can be made. We don’t want them to lose hope and just write it off.”

In the end, Ansorge stresses that “the private landowner is responsible for their [sic] own land. It’s a trying process for those who can’t afford it,” he acknowledges.

When it was pointed out that those who can’t afford to have their brush cleared are faced with an eyesore, he replies, “Not just an eyesore. It can be a public health issue. As debris sits longer, first insects collect, then you have critters, then it decomposes and breaks down. We don’t want infestations.” He agreed that something more has to be done. “We’re trying to get as much done as possible.”

Update: Glen Arbor Township has allocated $100,000 to relief efforts; 80% of these funds will go towards tree and brush removal, with the other 20% allocated towards a replanting effort. The Township is now accepting tax-deductible donations via PayPal at the following link.