Washington received three bids last week concerning yard waste and storm debris grinding.

Bids were due at 2 p.m. Thursday. The request for bids noted that locally owned and/or female-owned businesses and small businesses were encourage to submit bids. The city retained the right to reject any or all bids.

The bids came from Shavender Trucking, RG Landworks and American Property Experts. The $16,800 low bid was proffered by American Property Experts, according to Frankie Buck Jr., the city’s public-works director.

About 4,200 cubic yards of storm debris and yard waste caused by Hurricane Matthew and subsequent flooding needs to be dealt with, according to a city document. The contractor will be responsible for providing mobile, on-site grinding services at Washington-Warren Field and spreading the ground yard waste and storm debris. The contractor must clean the yard-waste area and grade as needed to remove ruts and bumps, according to the city’s request for bids on the project.

The debris is stored at the former dog-pound site off Spring Road and near the airport, Buck said.

“All three price were kind of in line. There was nobody way out there as far as being expensive,” Buck said. “We just waiting now for insurance and contract document information to be put together so we can come up with a proposed start date and issue a (purchase order) to the contractor. The work should start sometime in the middle of January.”

The city likely will be reimbursed for this expense under the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s program to reimburse local governments for some disaster-recovery expenses, Buck noted.

Washington officials estimate the city’s expenses related to Hurricane Matthew at $377,801.64, and it wants the federal government and state government to reimburse it for eligible expenses.

To that end, the City Council, during its Nov. 14 meeting, named Matt Rauschenbach, the city’s chief financial officer, and Robbie Rose, the city’s fire chief, as the city’s agents in seeking reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state agencies.

Counties and municipalities that are eligible for federal disaster-recovery assistance may be reimbursed for specific expenses in two categories: emergency work and permanent work. Under emergency work, expenses related to work that must be performed to reduce or eliminate an immediate threat to life, protect public health and safety and to protect improved property that is significantly threatened due to disasters or emergencies declared by the president could be reimbursed. Under permanent work, expenditures related to work required to restore a damaged facility, through repair or restoration, to its pre-disaster design, function, and capacity in accordance with applicable codes and standards could be reimbursed.

As of Tuesday, $2.25 million in public (government) assistance for emergency work have been obligated for North Carolina. Obligated means that funds made available to the state via electronic transfer following FEMA’s final review and approval of public assistance projects.

The city’s nearly $378,000 in storm-related expenditures include overtime salaries, fuel, food, safety gear such as boots, debris removal and equipment repair. Adjustments will be made as expenditures and reimbursement claims are finalized, according to a city document.