As the Ohio River recedes, Louisville Metro government officials say city flood cleanup will start on Saturday. To help local crews, officials hired a disaster debris company known for high-powered lobbyists and political donations.
AshBritt is a familiar name in Kentucky. Company employees donated to political committees that fueled the reelection of Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. And state officials contracted the company for flood cleanup in remote parts of eastern Kentucky in 2022.
The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting detailed an array of complaints that followed the company’s work in the region. Local residents alleged subcontractors under AshBritt took property without consent and left flood debris behind which clogged waterways.
The Florida-based company still faces several lawsuits in eastern Kentucky. The company had an advance contract for disaster recovery with the state of Kentucky until May 2024. A company spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
At a press conference Friday, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg set an aggressive timeline for cleanup. He said the waterfront should be “bright, shiny and clean in time for the Kentucky Derby” just about three weeks away.
“We want to get this cleanup done as quick as possible so that all of the other wonderful Kentucky Derby Festival events that happen alongside the river can and will go on as planned,” Greenberg said.
KyCIR requested detailed plans on debris cleanup from the city and received only a general outline to clean public areas before beginning to pick up private home and business trash placed on curbsides. A spokesperson wrote that the administration is “still finalizing specific details.”
“Based on preliminary assessments, the areas most impacted by flooding include River Road from Prospect to 7th street downtown (plus property north of River Rd), Shawnee Park and golf course, and a small number of low-lying neighborhoods near the Ohio River in Southwest Louisville,” a spokesperson for the mayor’s office wrote in an email.
KyCIR also requested copies of the city’s contract with AshBritt and bid documents detailing the selection process. City officials have not yet responded to that request for records.
After disasters, local governments usually also hire independent monitoring companies to keep a check on debris companies who might try to cheat payment systems. This is a requirement if the local government hopes to be eventually reimbursed by federal disaster assistance programs for debris pickup.
At the time of the writing deadline, the city had not responded to a question about which company would be monitoring AshBritt.
AshBritt also directed debris cleanup around Prospect last year when tornadoes hit the northeastern edge of Jefferson County. During that event, Tetra Tech was the monitoring company.
