PENDLETON — The city of Pendleton has hired an Eastern Oregon company to remove debris left after police clear out homeless camp.

The city council at its meeting Tuesday, Feb. 7, approved a contract for EBC Services of Halfway to handle the dirty work. Pendleton Parks and Recreation has mainly been responsible for past cleanups. Liam Hughes, parks and rec director, in a memo to the council estimated the contract will cost $60,000 to $130,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year.

City Manager Robb Corbett said parks and rec is short staffed and the waste at homeless camps can be hazardous, so trained workers should clean up the sites. The company already cleaned up camps in Pendleton along the railroad on Frazer Avenue, at the Westgate bridge area and other location. EBC Services has employees and equipment in Pendleton.

The city also wants EBC to deter people from using the same locations over and over again, Corbett said. To eliminate hiding places, brush has been removed.

“People are finding locations where they can hide and stay for an extended period of time,” he said. “We’re taking steps to be proactive and eliminate those hiding spots.”

Pendleton’s request for proposal for property abatement and unauthorized encampment cleanup contained various factors on which to evaluate companies competing for the contract, Hughes said.

“They were scored on a number of things,” he said. “Ability to do the work was one. Cost was another. EBC worked for us during the interim phase. So did a local company, Vegetation Solutions.”

Of seven bids, Vegetation Solutions LLC of Pendleton scored second. EBC’s winning proposal said its labor cost per hour is $125. Jake Brown, owner of EBC Services, brings 30 years of construction, demolition and site remediation experience to Eastern Oregon.

“How the cleanups work is, when an illegal camp is reported, the police department post the camp,” Hughes said. “Then, if it is not removed within 72 hours, we will ask the contractor to remove the camp. Within the last week, we had camps in various spots along the levee that were reported, posted and then cleaned up. I’m not sure where camps will be reported next.”

Pendleton’s plan to clean up camps does not address the root causes of homelessness, Corbett said. He awaits Gov. Tina Kotek’s program for fighting homelessness, her top policy priority.

“We’re hopeful that we’re going to see some proactive response from the state that’s going to help us all with this problem,” Corbett said. “It’s a problem that every community is dealing with.”