Logan County Emergency Management Agency director Dan Fulscher told county board members Thursday crews are diligently working to clean up the remaining debris from the ice storm that clobbered the area Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.

  "As of (Thursday), just in the town of Mount Pulaski we have hauled two and a half times of the amount of trees that we had in the March tornadoes," Fulscher said. "That's not counting Latham, that's not counting Beason, that's not counting Chestnut, that's not counting the rural areas and that's not counting Lake Fork or Cornland.

"We are looking at as many as 4,000 trees that are destroyed in Logan County."

The effort included 47 pieces of equipment and five different crews in Mount Pulaski on Thursday. Fulscher said they would be in Mount Pulaski again today through Wednesday and in Lake Fork and Cornland on Monday, as well.

Fulscher has estimated that as much as $27,000 of state money has been spent each day on the clelanup in the southeastern part of the county.

"That is a huge help that we will not have to pay for," Fulscher said.

The county is awaiting word on whether it would receive federal funding, but Fulscher was not optimistic.

Fulscher said he hopes people can remain patient with clean-up crews because of the massive amount of trees, limbs and branches that were brought down by the ice. The county has received a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency allowing people to burn any storm debris, he said.

People are not mandated to contact anyone about a burn, but are encouraged to contact the EMA office at 732-9491 so respective fire departments can be notified.

Meanwhile, Finance Committee chairman Chuck Ruben gave a short briefing on the county's audit situation, saying they are nearing "the light at the end of the tunnel."

The board voted 10-2 at last month's meeting to hire Tectura Corp., supplier of the county's new auditing software, to provide personnel to assist the treasurer's office and the county's auditors with completion of the audit.

Ruben said representatives with Tectura will be here Monday and Tuesday and should have a good idea of a completion date by then.

The county estimated last month it would take about 80 hours for the on-site representative to complete the task at a cost of $150 an hour, totaling $12,000. Ruben said Thursday he expects that figure to be a little higher.

The audit problem originated because the county's new Great Plains software won't allow Bruns to make changes after the beginning of a new fiscal year - on Dec. 1 - had passed. The audit is usually completed by early summer, meaning the county is running about five months behind schedule.