Asbestos To Be Removed Through Grant

Nine of the homes in the Austell portion of Douglas County that are being removed because of damage from the September 2009 floods have to be specially looked after because of asbestos.

The money for the extra precaution—$26,267—is coming from a grant from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“You can’t just tear the house down and dispose of it,” County Commissioner Henry Mitchell III explained after the Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, when the alteration to the demolition contract for the asbestos was approved. “There’s a certain way you’ve got to dispose of it … You can’t just dump it in a landfill.”

In total, there are 14 houses set to be removed from the flood plain they’re in. The board to Metro Custom Contracting for an original price of $73,100 in January. That money, too, came from GEMA and FEMA.

Mitchell said the overall home removal process has to be done carefully and that unexpected things, like the asbestos, can pop up.

“That’s the kind of stuff that you don’t see with the naked eye … it’s almost like mold—you don’t know it’s there because it’s behind the walls,” he said.

Asbestos, which can damage lung tissue and cause cancer, has been considered a health hazard since the 1960s, the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia says. The Environmental Protection Agency began banning its use in almost all instances in 1989.

Also on Tuesday, Martin-Robbins Fence Company was awarded a $146,800 contract to put up guardrails along county roads. 

Mitchell said the company was the only one to bid on the project, noting that “there are very few companies that specialize in putting up guardrails. 

“But it fit right in line with the costs,” he added.

Martin-Robbins’ expertise, as well as the ensured liability, made the company's offer appealing, Mitchell said.

Speaking on the liability, Mitchell said: “If something by chance happens with that guardrail, then you are liable because you put it in … A car coming 20 mph, it should stop it; a car coming 90 mph, it should at least slow it down.”

Other actions at Tuesday’s meeting include:

• The county’s EMS rates were raised to the maximum allowable rates of Medicare. “We’re about four to seven years behind on the rate increase of what Medicare already charged, so we’re just trying to keep in line with what Medicare’s costs are,” Mitchell said. The rate chart is attached to this article.
• Georgia’s Local Government Risk Management Services awarded the county $5,000 for promoting healthy living.
• County Administrator Eric Linton was announced as employee of the year. “Think about the role he has to deal with on a day-to-day basis,” Commissioner Kelly Robinson said. “It requires a certain character, it requires a certain amount of resolve, a certain amount of resiliency, and Administrator Linton has the right spirit.”

The following announcements were made:

• The Douglas County Courthouse will be closed on Friday for Good Friday. The county’s animal shelter will be open Friday but closed on Sunday for Easter.
• The May 2 commission work session has been moved to April 28 at 10 a.m. at the courthouse at 8700 Hospital Drive.
• The county will host the Touch-a-Truck Experience at Arbor Place Mall for free on April 30 from 12 to 4 p.m. Douglas County Department of Transportation, fire, EMS and sheriff’s vehicles will be available for attendees to see and climb in. Also at the event: Parks and Recreation’s duck derby to education on the county’s Special Olympics programs and summer camps, the Red Cross’s Bloodmobile, and clothing and school supply collections for A Gift of Love.