Buddy Roberts/News-Aegis County commission chairman Stan Batemon displays what’s left of the weather alert siren that was located in Shoal Creek Valley. One of 70 located throughout St. Clair, the early-warning device and its tower were ripped to pieces by the tornado that devastated the area on April 27.

The county will decide soon if it will take part in Operation Clean Sweep, the federally-established debris removal project intended to alleviate health and safety issues on private property statewide in the wake of the April 27 tornadoes.

Moody has called a special meeting tomorrow on whether to take part in the program

Shoal Creek Valley qualifies for the federal relief funds. On the disaster cleanup in that area and others, County Commission Chairman Stan Batemon said, “It’s a moving target for one thing, but it’s a fairly complicated disaster response, too. We’re working through that process the best we can.”

The county has until June 12 to sign onto the program and receive a 90 percent federal reimbursement and is currently weighing the legal ramifications against taking matters into its own hands.

After June 12, that number goes to a 75/25, federal-to-state match.

Federal and county Emergency Management Agency reps, the county’s engineering department, soil and water services and the Army Corps of Engineers were onhand for a work session before the commission’s regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday.

St. Clair is charged with the decision of signing onto the federal program or taking matter into its own hands.

One reason the county must take part in the cleanup is that it is charged with managing the 100-year flood plain and waterways, which line the Shoal Creek Valley.

In the past the county has gotten waivers from private residents to enter their property while maintaining the waterways. “We’re about to do that on a grand scale,” Chairman Batemon said. “Our stand is if we can legally do it, we can get reimbursement from the federal government.

If federal reimbursement money is not available, Batemon said, “we will take care of what the county is charged with as well.”

The county is already looking at spending millions of dollars in debris cleanup. Adding the private property cleanup, Chairman Batemon and County Attorney Bill Weathington said, could make those millions soar.

The decision to sign onto Clean Sweep may be made by today. A tree removal task force by Governor Robert Bentley was put in place after the storm. Senator Scott Beason heads that task force.

The county sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers after the storm for help in providing “as necessary a debris clearing and response team with some debris removal on public property on county right of ways,” and the Corps responded.

The federal government will pay the Army Corps for 75 percent of the work and the state will reimburse the other 25.

County Engineer Dan Dahlke estimates that half of the debris has been removed from the right-of-ways in the Shoal Creek Valley.

The Army Corps has subcontracted much of the work in that area.

Batemon said the county is also not worried about the larger, track machines being used that might tear up roadways. “If there’s one thing the county can do it’s build a road. So we’re not worried about them tearing up our roads, we’re more worried about cleaning up the debris.”

Chairman Batemon said a list of local contractors was provided to the Corps and spoke out about some contractors complaining that they were told by some of the head contracting agencies to get training, then not hired. “They don’t need to go out and ask people to get certification and then not hire them. Now, if we’ve got people with pending litigation against the county or those who have been in violation of the law, we don’t want to hire them.”

Batemon also said that he was very clear to the Corps and the other contracting firms being used in debris cleanup not to use illegal labor.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s representative said teams have been going door-to-door in communities hit trying to make sure people get the assistance they need, even if they have received a rejection letter.

If you have received a rejection letter, FEMA urges you to read why. Many rejection letters are sent out even if the form is not filled out correctly.