Garbage collecting service hopes to team up with London
By Brad Hicks / Staff Writer
At Tuesday’s regular meeting of the London City Council, members heard from a company looking to offer their assistance with garbage collection in the city and the recently opened regional recycling center.
At the meeting, two representatives from Poff Carting, a garbage collection service out of Pittsburg, spoke to the council about the proposition of having the company haul trash and recyclables within the London city limits.
“We’re kind of interested in the regional recycling center,” said Gerald Poff, who said he had been in the garbage collection business since 1980.
Todd Hopper, also with Poff Carting, said by having the services done through his company, the city could save more than $250,000 on garbage collection expenses.
“We would like to have the city look at bidding out the hauling of your garbage,” Hopper said. “We would supply all the labor and vehicles to collect all the garbage within the city limits.”
According to Hopper and based off numbers from 2007, the city spends $813,000 annually for hauling costs and pays approximately $5,500 monthly toward the costs of rear and front-loading trucks, which totals $66,000.
Hopper said Poff Carting could perform the services for well below the $879,000 the city pays now.
“What we would like to propose is very simple,” he said. “We think we can come in here and do this for $600,000. We feel very comfortable we can come in and do it for something like $600,000.”
The representatives said this price would include something that is in the city’s plans within the next couple of years - home pickup of recyclables.
“We can pick it up,” Hopper said. “We’re going to help the city get into recycling full blown.”
Poff said he has been observing other collection services and said that he can apply lessons learned to garbage and recyclable collection in the London area. Hopper added that any contract or proposal with the city would have wording put into an agreement that would ensure that the company would uphold the end of the deal.
“As far as control goes, you’ll still have it,” Hopper said.
London Mayor Troy Rudder said this is an issue that may have to be addressed in the future, but the city currently has a four-year contract with its current garbage collection service.
“We’re going to have to take a long hard look at how we’re going to handle the situation,” he said. “We’re honestly going into the recycling with ‘let’s break even.’ We’re going to have to look at our options in the very near future.”
Poff Carting would be seeking a five-year contract from the city. Hopper also gave two points on why an agreement with his company would be good for the city.
“A, you’ll make more money,” he said. “B, you have zero liability at this point.”
The council also approved the first reading of an ordinance setting the 2008-09 motor vehicle, water craft and real estate property tax.
In the first reading, the rate for automobiles and boats for every $100 assessed value by the Property Value Administrator would be .1028. For real estate, the rate would be .096 for every $100. For personal property other than cars and boats, the rate would also be .1028 per every $100 assessed value.
The taxes would be due to the city clerk by Dec. 1, 2008. For those paying early, the ordinance dictates those people would receive a 2 percent reduction. Those paying late would incur a 6 percent penalty.
The proposed rates would be effective with approval of the the second reading of the ordinance.
In other business, the council:
• Approved the appointment of Mike Bowling to the London Utility Commission with a term to expire Sept. 7, 2012.
• Approved the appointment of Bruce Yandell to the London-Laurel County Joint Planning Commission with a term to expire July 26, 2012.
• Approved the appointment of Connie Moore to the Ethics Board with a term to expire July 27, 2012.
• Approved the bid of Action Outdoors for replacement of the sign at the London Community Center. The bid came in for $39,799 and the company estimated it would take six to eight weeks to install the new sign.
• Discussed the replacement of Fire Chief Larry Van Hook’s work vehicle. Rudder said the vehicle is a Chevy Suburban with approximately 96,000 miles. He said the vehicle, which is also used for rescue squad services, is breaking down and the city should bid for a 2007 or higher vehicle to replace the old one.
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