Adams Tallies Up Hurricane Irene Clean-up Bill
 The hole in East Road is one of many repairs the town needed to make after Tropical Storm Irene. |
The town is expected to pay about $700,000 to clean up the mess the storm left behind, which is half of what it would have been paying if it weren't for federal reimbursements.
"If you put all that together, the town is under about $700,000 in total for Tropical Storm Irene and our responsibilities for the river," Town Administrator Jonathan Butler said on Wednesday. "It's a little bit of a bruise but it's not a big bruise."
Adams was one, if not the, hardest hit municipality in the county by the August storm with initial cost estimates for clean-up around $2 million.
The storm left a washed out bank and a giant hole in East Road and clogged up most of the town's waterways. The Board of Selectmen issued Butler a blank check to get the emergency repairs completed.
As of Wednesday, the town has spent $793,202 — of that, the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service is reimbursing the town $297,000 to reconstruct the bank of the Tophet Brook near the Susan B. Anthony Museum and $67,000 to clean out the Pine Street Brook. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is reimbursing $41,000 for other response expenses — such as providing dumpsters for residents.
"The grand total of all those reimbursements is $617,000 leaving a balance of about $176,000 that the town will owe on all those projects as of today," Butler said. "That does not include two projects."
The town still needs to clean out Tophet Brook as well install a new culvert at the Charles Street Bridge, which officials had previously feared would need a whole new bridge. The Charles Street Bridge project will cost the between $20,000 and $40,000, Butler said, after FEMA reimburses some of the cost.
Cleaning the Tophet Brook is expected to cost about a half-million dollars, he said.
"We're going to be putting that out to bid in the latter half of July and the work will be completed during the dry season of August," Butler said.
The river cleanup projects will be bonded separately from the other and the Board of Selectmen will have to decide how to pay for the remaining sum of about $200,000. With that, the town will have "wipes their hands" of the Irene mess.
 Thomas Robinson was honored with the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation's Barrett Public Service Award. |
On the outside, the playing fields, detention pond, rain garden, new LED lights, entrance and courtyard lights and fencing has all be completed, he said.
All that is left to do outside is brick pavers, planting trees, landscaping, the track, the football bleachers, paving and the entrance gates. Inside, three of the six sections of the school are completed and the other sections are nearing completion, he said.
The school is expected to be completed by the end of the summer so students can reoccupy the school in September. Skrocki said the school is already planning on hosting a ribbon cutting but will wait until the students are back in school so they can participate too.
Also on Wednesday, Thomas Robinson was honored by the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation with the Margery and William Barrett Public Service Award for Adams, Cheshire and Savoy.
Robinson was given a $500 donation in his name to any nonprofit organization. He was chosen for his work with providing hot meals to shut-ins, being an active member on the Conservation Commission and on the original planning committee for the Youth Center in the last ten years.
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