The City of Mount Vernon’s contract with Republic Waste Management is under review with the City of Mount Vernon’s attorney, and is expected to be ready for approval at the Monday, Dec. 20, city council meeting.
The council had discussions once more on the change to the waste management system that would impact citizens in Mount Vernon moving forward.
Mount Vernon City Council member Eric Roudabush again voiced a concern that there was no language in the contract for allowing snowbirds not to be billed for trash service.
The City, who would manage the addresses on contract and frequency of pickup, would be the one who handles what is done for snowbirds, said Mount Vernon city administrator Chris Nosbisch, and the city council can make those suggestions as something they want to see offered.
Finding a location for glass recycling is still something that the city is looking into as well.
While Republic does offer yard waste pickup, for those who want that add-on, it’s an additional $10 a month to their bills and is only collected in April through November.
Roudabush asked why people would need to pay for recycling containers if they were no longer going to use the containers.
“That’s been the challenge for the city,” Nosbisch said. “If we were to allow people to opt out of recycling, we’d still have the same costs to provide for recycling, of getting trucks here and to those recycling plants. That crew’s still covering the same land miles within city limits. It would be the same costs, but over less people utilizing the service.”
That would also not be any different than the current contract with Wapsi Waste, where the city pays roughly $190,000 a year for recycling, Nosbisch said. The contract for recycling and waste pickup works because of the number of customers that are contracted with the carriers.
Discussion also went into the low end of the garbage waste contracts.
For people who only need a 35-gallon trash cart to be put out every other week, that would see their current garbage rates be roughly $5.50 per month for trash pickup and an additional $7 for recycling pickup. The city also charges a $10.50 servicing fee to help offset the costs of leaf pickup, right of way cleanup, storm debris cleanup and other related waste pickup items the city provides.
For Roudabush, the $10 difference between a single garbage tag and the rates for those on fixed incomes was still his biggest issue.
Those paying for more garbage tags currently have subsidized garbage service in Mount Vernon for those using less for a number of years, Nosbisch noted, and this new service would more fairly account for the amount of garbage for all users.
Mount Vernon Council member Debra Herrmann asked about what happens if someone were to move, would the garbage containers stay at their home?
That would be the plan, Nosbisch said. The city will store 10 or so of each container at a time to help cut down on costs for replacements or for new homes in the area.
Herrman also asked if there was a way to add incentives for cost savings into the language for Republic to have to consider instead of a flat four-percent raise each year. That should have been part of the initial bids, Nosbisch said.
Matt Pivit with Republic explained that there is an incentive for Republic to lower costs for waste removal and present those savings to the cities they contract with, and that Mount Vernon might see a rebate towards recycling costs in the next year, as the recycling market has picked up again. He also expected those four-percent increases each year to help pay for the additional costs for workers.
“Part of our bids was trying to be as aggressive as we can, while still being competitive,” Pivit said. “We’ve seen wages in our industry over the last several months go up drastically, as well as sign-on bonuses for people with commercial driving licenses. I expect that to continue for the next few years as well, which increases our own cost as well.”
Mount Vernon Council member Tom Wieseler said that the City should look at holding a coffee event to discuss the new waste management contract in the coming months, with something like the 10 most-asked questions and possibly someone from Republic able to answer questions.
The council will approve the contract at the Dec. 20 meeting.
Contract with Republic Waste Management under review with city attorney
December 16, 2021
About the Contributor
Nathan Countryman, Editor
Nathan Countryman is the Editor of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.