DPW Cleanup Plan To Save Money

BROOKSVILLE - To save money, the county plans to divvy up the costs of its interim cleanup of the former public works compound at 201 West Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. between the project consultant and a private excavation firm.

Assistant County Engineer Greg Sutton said he expects to broach the idea to county commissioners at their June 24 meeting. The plan is the result of discussions between the county administrator's office, purchasing department and public works, he said.

If the idea passes muster, Sutton said he hopes to start cleaning up and removing some of the contaminated soil at the site as early as next month.

But before cleanup can begin, two things need to occur: County commissioners need to approve a change order in the amount of about $85,000 for Brooksville-based Creative Environmental Solutions, the county-hired consultant handling the DPW project.

Creative needs the extra money to finish up sampling and testing on the 5-acre site.

Also, Sutton needs to obtain bids from disposal companies who would then truck the contaminated soil to a landfill designed to hold contaminate waste, such as one in St. Cloud, Florida.

"We want to get this thing done," Sutton said.

While all this is going on here, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is continuing to review site assessment reports submitted by Creative before recommending the final step in the remediation, or cleanup process.

But instead of waiting for the state, the county wanted to go ahead with the intermediate cleanup, which doesn't require FDEP approval.

This latest plan differs somewhat from one Sutton unveiled last month.

In that original plan, Sutton planned to ask county commissioners to approve a change order - the company's 11{+t}{+h} - totaling $161,790.

But he said it didn't make sense for Creative to handle the nontechnical part of the interim cleanup, such as hauling the soil away. Sutton believes the county can get a better rate from bidding it out to a company that handles that sort of job.

If it gets the go-ahead Tuesday, Creative plans to remove shallow contaminated soil on-site (by the ditch on the south part of the property) and at an adjoining lot. Work crews would dig down about 2 feet below the surface and remove various hydrocarbons, heavy metals and various contaminants.