December 2007 Ice Storm Emails

This is the official announcement from the City

During a special meeting Dec. 27 the Bixby City Council voted to approve a tree and timber debris disposal site located at 151st Street and Lewis. This site was one of several under consideration but was the only site out of the flood plain, which is the primary requirement by FEMA.

Curbside timber and tree debris pick up by Tulsa County will begin in Bixby for Bixby residents, Bixby Public Works Utility customers, and residents within the Bixby Fence Line per agreement with Tulsa County on January 3, 2008, for thirty (30) days and will end on February 1, 2008.

Tree limbs and debris must be no more than ten (10) feet in length for curb-side pick up by Tulsa County.

For those Bixby residents wishing to dispose of their own a Tree Debris Site Access Card will be available at City Hall beginning Wednesday, January 3rd, 2008. These cards are free and each card will allow four punches per card for access to the site. Each punch will represent one trip/load. The card must be presented to the attendant at the gate to enter. Name, address, phone number will be required on the back. Information will be included with the card as to map location, etc., and additional cards may be made available by the City of Bixby on a case by case basis.

No tires, hazardous materials, liquids, PCB waste, rubber, plastic, asbestos, upholstery, radioactive waste, infectious waste or appliances will be allowed in accordance with the Department of Environmental Quality.

ACCESS WILL BE DENIED TO ANYTHING ADDED TO LOAD OTHER THAN TIMBER AND TREE DEBRIS ONLY!

Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 23:16:34 -0600
From: John Kennington <johnkennington@cox.net>
Subject: Update on Ice Storm Debris Removal

There was quite a crowd at this morning's council meeting. The city has worked out an Interlocal Agreement with Tulsa County where Bixby will set up a collection/burn site that the county can use, and in return the county will pick up any debris within the city of Bixby. The only point of discussion was that the agreement has not yet been signed with a contractor for a disposal site, so the final cost has not yet been determined. There will be an emergency council meeting next week where the agreement will be presented for approval. Four parties were asked to present bids, and only one of them has presented a viable site. One key requirement is the site be out of the floodplain, in order to get eventual FEMA reimbursement. Some approximate costs were presented - the site and its management will be about $100,000 and the cost, if paid by Bixby, to pick up the debris, would be $2-3 million.

It seemed like a no-brainer to me, and the Council voted 3-1 to approve the interlocal agreement. Here are the votes, for your information:

Ward 1 Councilor Joe Williams No
Ward 2 Vice Mayor Tom Daniels Yes
Ward 3 Steve Todoroff Yes
Ward 4 Mayor Ray Bowen Yes

Again, our Councilor Tom Daniels strongly supported this proposal, as did the other two Councilors who voted yes.

I think this was a great example of the importance of our neighborhood association in quickly getting out the word about this issue.

Thanks,
John