City of Joplin offers help with hand-raking tornado debris

(From the City of Joplin)

The City of Joplin is offering assistance to property owners who may need help in raking their yards to remove the smaller debris items remaining following the larger debris removal. This service is offered at no cost to the resident.

Residents who need to have their yards hand-raked will need to sign a permission form authorizing the City and the WIB employees to come onto their property. To sign the authorization, citizens should go to the Public Works Center office, at 1301 West 2nd Street. Details of the program will be provided during the submission of the form. This authorization form is different than the ROE or other volunteer permission forms that residents may have signed for previous programs. Also, residents should note that the office location is NOT at City Hall, but at the City’s Public Works Center on 2nd Street.

In cooperation with Missouri’s Workforce Investment Board (WIB), the City has contracted a number of employees to work in various areas of the cleanup efforts in Joplin. The Missouri Disaster Recovery Jobs Program was created by Governor Jay Nixon on June 1, in the wake of flood and tornado disasters in Southeast and Southwest Missouri to provide temporary jobs for workers who were left unemployed by the recent devastations. The program, administered by Missouri’s Division of Workforce Development, created 400 jobs related to clean-up and humanitarian efforts in Jasper and Newton counties. Various duties related to the recovery efforts following the May 22 tornado are being completed by the WIB workers with coordination and supervision of the City of Joplin.

For general information about demolition, cleanup, or other disaster-related topics, residents should call the City’s Tornado Assistance Information Line (Tail) at 417-627-2900 during regular business hours.