Commissioners Court: Hold placed on debris pickups in Montgomery County

THE WOODLANDS, TX – Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough today announced a hold was being placed – effective at the end of business today – on debris pickup throughout the county.

According to a statement put out through Keough’s social media:

Earlier today the Commissioners Court heard from our Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management related to the ongoing debris clean-up. OEM through our county vendors was seeking additional funds beyond the initial estimates that would have taken the cost for debris cleanup into the 20+ million dollars realm. After much discussion among the Commissioners and myself we decided to hold on a decision until we could discuss the cost estimates and totality of the project with the contractors directly. We plan on having a special commissioners court session on Tuesday, September 3 to discuss.

In the meantime, we have paused debris operations after today. The contractors who have been working everyday since our early May flood event already planned to take off for the long holiday weekend to get some much needed rest. This pause in service will not affect already planned operations at this time.

I fully support completing the job and ensuring Beryl debris is picked up. However, I also must be prudent with your tax dollars even though we will seek reimbursement from FEMA, the county is on the hook for the expense for several years until FEMA finalizes our claim.

Stay tuned to Woodlands Online for updates to this story.