Salado Creek Foundation

Mayor Ed Garza Responds

Nov 09, 2002

Here is Mayor Ed Garza's response to our letter of concern about flood debris cleanup on Salado Creek.

"October 3,2002

Thank you for your letter and your continued commitment to our community. The City of San Antonio and Bexar County have jointly sought funding for the recovery effort from the flood of July 2002. We have applied to the Emergency Watershed Protection Program (EWP). As you may be aware the (EWP) was set up by the United States Congress to respond to emergencies created by natural disasters. It is designed to relieve imminent hazards to life and property caused by floods, fires, windstorms, and other natural occurences. The purpose of the EWP is to help groups of people with a common problem, and not generally an individual assistance program. All projects undertaken must be sponsored by a political subdivision of the State, such as a city, county, general improvement district, or conservation district. The United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) is responsible for administering the program. The NRCS may subsidize up to seventy-five percent of the construction cost of emergency measures. The remaining twenty-five percent (must) be funded from local sources and may be in the form of cash or in-kind services.

The City of San Antonio and Bexar County have jointly submitted an Emergency Watershed Protection Program Supplemental Request Form to the local NRCS office. An initial coordination meeting was held on August 13, 2002. At that meeting, new contracting options available to the NRCS were discussed with Public Works staff. Public Works staff expressed the same concerns you outline in your letter. These options included force account work (use of in-house personnel), performance of work, and locally led contracting.

The Public Works Department learned many lessons from their previous partnership with the NRCS after the 1998 flood debris removal project. At this time, we anticipate to accomplish the July 2002 flood debris removal using the locally led contracting option mentioned above in combination with our force account work. Under this option, the City and the County will solicit a local contractor(s) to perform some of the work, in addition to our in-house personnel. This method will allow for more local control of the methods and procedures used by the contractor and will also provide for accountability to the citizens regarding our safeguard of the precious waterways.

By mid October 2002, the City will have submitted to the NRCS our recommended work areas, scope of work, method and estimated costs. The NRCS will finalize the EWP paperwork and identify the necessary funding. Subsequent to obtaining City Council approval, staff will begin the process of soliciting bids for the contractual work, obtaining the necessary private property rights of entry, obtaining necessary permits and scheduling the debris removal. City crews will accomplish the work utilizing Best Management Practices and training they have received over the past several years regarding operations in riparian areas.

Site surveys to date have identified the majority of flood debris to consist of downed trees and vegetation blockages. Currently, the Storm Water Utility is anticipating contracting the services of a hydro-axe contractor. The hydro-axe will be used to gain access to the areas and mulch the woody debris in place. This procedure will serve to protect the ground and surrounding tree roots from rutting and compaction while at the same time minimizing the use of heavy equipment to do this activity as used in the last NRCS clean up. A hydro-axe in simplistic terms acts as a mower. It shreds downed trees and vegetation mounds using a light weight tractor with a front end attachment. In house personnel will be responsible for removing debris from selected areas that must go to a landfill.

Once again thank you for your concern. I am confident that the Public Works Department will work diligently with NRCS to negotiate the use of Best Management Practices during this clean up effort.

Sincerely,
Edward D. Garza
Mayor

City of San Antonio
P.O. Box 839966
San Antonio, TX 78283-3966
(210) 207-7060