Feb. 5--Paducah plans to hire a consulting firm to oversee debris cleanup efforts, a deal City Manager Jim Zumwalt said could be finalized today.

The city commission voted Tuesday to authorize Mayor Bill Paxton to sign a contract with one of the three firms -- Neel-Schaffer, Beck Disaster Recovery, and PBS&J -- city and county officials interviewed earlier in the day. Paxton said he expected the city to partner with McCracken County.

Van Newberry, the county judge-executive, said county officials were discussing hiring a firm but no decision would be official until the fiscal court meets Monday, if a meeting isn't called sooner.

City Commissioner Carol Gault, who joined the commission in November, said she thought in the past the city was too quick to hire consultants.

"In this particular case, I think we'll be way in over our head," said Gault, who represented the commission in the interviews.

City Engineer RIck Murphy showed the commission an inches-thick binder of regulations from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Receiving reimbursement from FEMA requires detailed records under those rules, he said, and if city staff members ran that operation, their day-to-day work would get shoved aside.

Zumwalt said the firms have experience with hurricane cleanup in coastal areas. The firm would oversee cleanup operations, from hiring contractors to collect debris to submitting reports to FEMA for reimbursement. Much of the fee, which Zumwalt said remained undetermined, would be eligible for FEMA reimbursement.

The commission approved the measure near the end of a series of reports from city department heads on their employee's efforts in the aftermath of last week's storm. Fire Chief Steve Kyle organized an effort, with help from police and other city departments, to knock on the doors of each home in Paducah to check on residents. More than 90 city employees knocked on doors Monday and Tuesday, he said, and as of Tuesday evening only a few hundred households had yet to be contacted.

C.D. Bradley can be contacted at 575-8617.

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