Thursday, May 9, 2013
"Discrepancies" were found in some of the charges submitted by AshBritt, the debris removal firm contracted by the state after Superstorm Sandy
AshBritt, Inc., the firm hired by the state to haul debris after Superstorm Sandy, benefited from an “ambiguous” contract that resulted in at least tens of thousands in extra charges, according to a report released on Wednesday. Ocean County Administrator Carl Block handed the Freeholders a thick report at Wednesday’s pre-board meeting. The report, done by state-hired monitor The Louis Berger Group, Inc., reviews the mileage billed to Ocean County by AshBritt. “The director contacted me after some articles had been written about the clean up efforts,” Block said. Freeholder Director John P. Kelly had asked for a report to be done breaking down the process of debris hauling as well as the charges in relation to distance. “Discrepancies” had…
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Barnegat Bay will be open by Memorial Day Weekend
Ocean County expects to receive approximately $40 million in reimbursements for some services performed following Superstorm Sandy within a couple weeks. The project worksheets for just debris removal are in their final stages of approval and the county will be receiving a check soon, Administrator Carl Block said at the Board of Chosen Freeholders’ pre-board meeting. “There is movement,” Block said. The $40 million is just a fraction of the $60 million the county has put out for debris removal. The county paid for the services of AshBritt and Louis Berger Group Inc. upfront, for some municipalities. Once the county is reimbursed, municipalities will pay their share, Block said. Freeholder John C. Bartlett said fronting the money, without …
Thursday, February 28, 2013
County is fronting the money, will be reimbursed by FEMA, Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr. says
The Ocean County Board of Freeholders are slated to approve a $45 million emergency appropriation at the March 6 board meeting to help front the costs for Superstorm Sandy debris removal in municipalities. "So far, so good," Bartlett said at the pre-board meeting on Tuesday. "We can indirectly borrow from certain county accounts. We will be able to complete the entire thing by self-financing upfront." The county will eventually be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the participating municipalities, Bartlett said. "We will get it all back," Bartlett said. "The money will be coming back. It's good news we can afford to do it. It's bad news we had to do it. It's a way to protect our financial interests to do it …
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Board members deny Ocean County GOP chief George R. Gilmore had anything to do with securing Ashbritt
Ocean County officials had two ways to go after Superstorm Sandy - wait three months for the complex bid process for debris removal, or go with Florida-based Ashbritt and start immediately, Freeholder Director John P. Kelly said today. "We had two choices in Ocean County," Kelly said at the Board of Freeholders meeting Wednesday in Toms River. "It was the only action that made sense." Nearly all of the discussion at the meeting centered on the use of Ashbritt for debris removal, the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy and Ocean County's eventual recovery. Ocean County signed on with AshBritt in mid-November, and offered a shared services agreement to county municipalities for Sandy-related debris removal. Under the shared services agreement, …
foggyworld
6:14 am on Saturday, May 11, 2013
The Governor just recently passed a bill that makes it completely impossible for any citizen or group to audit any of the Sandy bills being presented to FEMA and that includes AshBritt. I asked to see the bills submitted for the (non) clean-up of our area and received no answer. I suggested that residents be permitted to sign off the number and hours of employees charged to our individual areas … more ›