Three months after a tornado ravaged parts of Fultondale, the city is entering the final phase of cleaning up the mess, a point at which city workers will take over the job.

Immediately after the tornado hit on April 27, local officials were in charge, headed up by Fultondale Fire Chief Larry Holcomb. For a few days, Holcomb was coordinating efforts of the Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Alabama National Guard and other organizations, along with thousands of volunteers.

Shortly thereafter, the city contracted with Hemphill Construction as the project manager to oversee cleanup efforts. The city also contracted with DRC group to do the physical cleanup.

DRC’s contract with Fultondale has ended, and the city this week had two choices: Either renew the contract with DRC to finish the job, or for the city itself to take over the effort.

Tim Temple, vice president of Hemphill, recommended that the city do the work itself.

“As a city entity, you guys are capable of doing this,” Temple told Mayor Jim Lowery and several other city leaders during a meeting on Wednesday.

FEMA will reimburse the city only for doing work on rights-of-way; it will not pay for any work done on private property, according to Temple.

If the city had chosen to renew its contract with DRC, it would have been reimbursed 85 percent of the cost by FEMA.

However, the city will do the work with its own equipment and personnel. FEMA will pay the city a certain amount for equipment rates and for employee overtime, according to Temple. It will also reimburse the city for the salaries of people hired temporarily for storm cleanup, and for other expenses such as renting equipment.

“It would be a benefit for the city to do it since you have bucket trucks and personnel,” Temple said.

Fultondale Mayor Jim Lowery said that for the past few years, the city has invested in items such as bucket trucks and other large equipment.

“Everything we invested in paid off when the storm hit,” Lowery said.

He added that even though DRC will no longer be working in the Fultondale, the city will do its best to take care of citizens.

“Once we got to the state we are now, it’s more of a one-on-one basis,” Lowery said. “We’re working with people on an individual basis, and we will continue to work with people.”

The deadline to pick up debris and get reimbursed by FEMA is Oct. 27 — six months from when the tornado hit.

There are still about 15 structures that must be town down because inspectors have condemned them as unsafe due to extensive damage, according to city officials.

City workers have mailed certified letters to all owners of houses that have been condemned. There will be public hearing about the houses before they are town down and a lien put on them; a date for the hearing has not been set.

Workers have done a tremendous amount of debris removal in Fultondale so far: As of this week, DRC has hauled off 100,900 cubic yards of debris in the city. Across the state, 10 million cubic yards of storm-related debris has been moved, according to FEMA.

Most of the wood goes to a reduction center in Tarrant, where it is fed through chippers. Other debris is taken to a landfill.

For the first 30 days after the storm, all cleanup costs were 100 percent reimbursed by FEMA. After that, FEMA is reimbursed 85-90 percent.

Nationwide, FEMA has paid $54 million to reimburse communities for debris removal and for repair or replacement of public buildings, according to a FEMA press release. The agency has paid a total of $203 million for federal disaster assistance including loans, funds to the U.S. Corps of Engineers, funds to individuals and other help.

A FEMA press release from this week also stated that the “Alabama debris removal mission is 90 percent complete.”