The City of Mount Vernon will be entering a contract with Republic Waste Management Services for the garbage and recycling for the city.
The new contract will begin July 1, 2022, with the current tags program with Wapsi Waste remaining in place until then.
Residents will have a choice of a 65 gallon trash container collected weekly, a 65 gallon container collected every other week and a 95 gallon container collected weekly. Residents would also have a choice of a 65 gallon or 95 gallon container for recycling.
The city council voted 4-1 to go into the contract with Republic. Based on the details, residents will pay $24.57 per month for pick-up of trash every other week in a 65 gallon trash container and 65 or 95 gallon recycling container, and for a 95 gallon container for trash and 65 or 95 gallon of recycling collected weekly, the monthly fee will be $29.57.
At the end of 10-years, the fee for a 65 gallon trash container collected every other week will be $28.65 and for the 95 gallon container would be $33.14.
All of those fees include the city’s $10.50 for yard waste and other maintenance related expenses.
The city received three bids for proposals, with ABC Waste Management, Johnson County Refuse, Inc., and Republic Waste Management having bids. Johnson County Refuse did not provide a bid for the 10-year contracts, while ABC and Republic both did. Johnson County’s bids for the five year contract were also higher than ABC and Republic’s.
There are other details that the city will be ironing out between the city and the garbage contractor between now and then, including how recycling of glass will be handled and what citizens can do with yard waste, if that’s a separate subscription or there is a certain time frame those items can be collected.
The matter to advance a contract with Republic Waste Management for 10 years was resolved in a 4-1 vote, with Mount Vernon city council member Eric Roudabush providing the dissenting opinion.
Roudabush saw no reason why the city needed to move to a 10-year contract instead of continuing on with Wapsi Waste. His biggest concerns are about cost increases for those on fixed incomes and fees charged for people who don’t use them — for example snow birds.
The ability to subsidize garbage costs for those who are in the low to moderate income levels is something the city can continue to explore, as the city already does that with tags offered to Southeast Linn Community Center on a monthly basis, Nosbisch said. Subsidies in the new system would require addressing the issue on citizens’ bills instead. The city could also look into relief for snowbirds if that was a significant issue that needs to be addressed. Beginning these discussions with a contractor is only the first step for the city on these garbage bids.
For Mount Vernon city council member Debra Herrmann, the choice of a contractor for the next 10 years is an example of the city focusing on continuation of service and picking a contractor on the city’s terms, not because the service has been sold to another contractor because the route no longer exists.
“This council over the years has proven to be proactive instead of reactive,” concurred Mount Vernon council member Stephanie West. “This decision confirms that.”
Discussion at the meeting also went into how contractors would handle items, like garbage cans along streets that have narrow access to those garbage cans, due to street parking impacting access to the cans. That’s currently an issue Wapsi Waste addresses in Mount Vernon, and any new contractors would have similar experience in other towns.
Working with the new contractor to begin educating citizens on what to do to make sure their garbage is picked up, as well as what can be recycled will be an endeavor for the city to tackle in the next few months.
“This is a huge systemic change for the citizens of Mount Vernon to get used to,” said Mount Vernon city council member Tom Wieseler.
When it came to the decision on which contract to go with, Wieseler noted he wasn’t a fan of the continuation with Wapsi Waste two years ago, and that council members are elected to make tough decisions for the benefit of the city.
“We need to make a decision now,” Wieseler said. “When it comes to some automated services, we have some of that with the leaf and brush pick-up services, as the leaf vacuum is an automated machine. This will be a change that impacts everyone.”
Glass might be a substance that is moved to a drop-off location on a city property to be recycled as opposed to being picked up by trucks to be recycled. There are pros and cons to that level of recycling, including the possibility glass breaks as it’s being recycled by a citizen or citizens seek out the glass to intentionally break, Nosbisch said.
Another point of concern was the color of recycling and garbage containers, and if there were palette choices for what the bins would look like that the city could explore.
The council will begin working with contractors on the details for the garbage program ahead of the program starting July 1, 2022.
Mount Vernon entering contract with Republic Waste Services for garbage, recycling bids
October 28, 2021
About the Contributor
Nathan Countryman, Editor
Nathan Countryman is the Editor of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.