Commission approves waste disposal bid for garbage pickup
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New company will begin service April 10
By Christa Jennings
Senior Staff Writer
During its continued meeting Wednesday evening, the County Commission approved acceptance of a bid for the county’s waste disposal contract for garbage pickup services.
Wednesday’s meeting was reconvened from the commission’s March 20 meeting, which itself was reconvened from the commission’s initial March 14 meeting. The primary reason for the continued meetings was the bid process and the waste disposal contract, as reported in last week’s edition.
The contract was put out for bid a third time after having received no official bids the first two times. However, this time the county received two bids for the waste disposal contract.
Regarding this matter, the county is not paying anything for the contract, as is often the case with things being bid. Instead, since it relates to garbage pickup, the bid amounts are what the customers will pay if they choose to sign up for the service.
One was from Arrow Disposal service Inc., or ADSI. That bid was for $33.25 per month and for residential service only as the company does not offer commercial pickup.
Additionally, the bid notated that the company would not be able to begin service until July 1 because of needing to get two new trucks for servicing Coosa County. According to Gentry Shows with ADSI, the bid submitted was the exact same as the proposal the company previously submitted.
The second bid received was from 121 Disposal Company for $26.47 per month for residential service. The company also offers commercial pickup and said it could provide temporary convenient roll-off dumpsters if the county so chose to utilize those while waiting for the new service to start.
The bid from 121 Disposal stated that they would be able to begin garbage pickup services on April 10.
If the county chose to use the temporary roll-off units, those would start April 3. However, the fees related to those units, which the county would be responsible for in that instance, were listed as a $165 delivery fee per unit with seven units being offered, $365 per haul and $55 disposal costs.
Those units were included as an optional add-on for the county if it chose to utilize those in the interim for residential garbage drop-off and pick-up.
Following the opening of the two bids, county attorney John K. Johnson reviewed the two bid packets received.
As he reviewed and asked questions, it was stated that 121 Disposal began service in 2020 and that it currently provides residential garbage pickup services in numerous communities and for homeowners associations, although it also provides commercial services in other areas.
Upon reviewing the bid packet from 121, Johnson said the only deviation from the original contract request was the start date, with the county’s original contract stating service would start April 1 and 121 Disposal’s bid stating service would start April 10.
In further discussion, it was explained that 121 would charge a $25 delivery fee for any replacement carts, which would pertain to new customers or those who have carts with broken parts and need replacements.
A company representative explained that $25 would be a one-time fee for the initial cart and that after that, anytime the customer’s cart needs to be replaced it would be done free of charge.
It was also mentioned that GFL has left many of its carts behind, meaning customers can continue to use those if they are not broken, until and unless GFL comes to pick those up.
The company also stated that it will have two trucks dedicated to Coosa County, with one in full service and one as a backup. This is the same as what the county has had for many years.
Tyler Hearin with 121 Disposal said that their biggest delay would be onboarding the current customers, especially since GFL has not been cooperative with providing the customer list to the county.
He added that their goal would be to continue providing garbage pickup service on the same days customers currently have as much as possible, that way it would be less of an adjustment for customers.
In ongoing discussion, Shows with ADSI, who is also a resident of Coosa County, asked some questions and also offered to attempt to help get the current customer list for the county.
“I want y’all to know, I’m glad they submitted the bid, and obviously their price is lower and they can start sooner,” he said. “So, I think they’re a good option for you. They don’t have much experience in residential, but I know their commercial services are good, so I’m not going to say anything bad about these guys. I think it’s great that they bid. …I’ve been doing this 33 years, and there are not many counties or cities in the state I haven’t been in. This happens to be the one I live in, and I certainly don’t want to see people get a bad deal here.”
The commission expressed its appreciation for Shows’ positive attitude and for his company initially submitting a proposal since no other company had submitted a bid previously.
During further discussion, attorney Johnson stated the only differences in 121 Disposal’s bid compared to the county’s initial contract were the start date and the initial cart delivery fee. Whereas the bid from ADSI had a start date of July 1 because of the delay in having to wait to get more trucks.
Johnson added that Shows had been “very cordial” with the county and that he knew Shows would continue to be cordial, which Shows confirmed he would be.
Additionally, 121 Disposal stated that it would be getting more residential cans within three weeks to have those ready to start delivering to Coosa County customers. In answering questions, Hearin also said they do not have automatic trucks at the time, but that the company is moving to the Automated Side Load, or ASL, garbage trucks as soon as possible.
In further discussion regarding the transition to the new garbage pickup service, Hearin said that existing or new customers would be able to go to an online portal or call to sign up for service. Details on how residents can go about that were not available as of press time, but will be shared once that information is available.
The commission also mentioned potentially holding a special sign-up day or multiple days if they cannot get a current customer list, that way residential garbage customers would be able to come out to sign-up for the new service in person. If set up, details on the sign-up day will also be shared once available.
In considering the two bids, District 4 Commissioner Ronnie Joiner stated to Gentry Shows, “You’ve been totally honest with us, but you know the barriers that we’re facing right now, that you cannot get to us in time. We have got to get this trash service resolved.”
“If I was sitting in your chair, I would take their bid,” Shows responded. “Seriously, in all fairness.”
He added that he would be glad to help the county any way he can, as well as help 121 Disposal any way he could.
Following much discussion, the commission unanimously approved adding the acceptance of the lowest bid, with the aforementioned changes to the original contract, to its agenda for Wednesday evening’s meeting.
With all commissioners present, the commission then proceeded to unanimously approve accepting the lowest bid from 121 Disposal as submitted, with the start date of April 10. Customers will pay in advance quarterly, as has been done, in accordance with the county’s contract.
The commission will not be utilizing the seven temporary roll-off container units at the additional fees since customers will not have as much of a lapse in service.
The commission had previously mentioned possibly renting roll-off containers to place throughout the county for residents to utilize, but that was when customers might have had to wait three months for garbage pickup service to resume, rather than the two to three weeks they will have to wait for service to resume with the new 121 Disposal contract.
In related news, following the meeting and in answering questions presented, County Administrator Amy Gilliland explained that the commission could have bid out the contract one month sooner than it did, but no earlier than that because of legality issues and procedures.
She further stated that while numerous companies had initially expressed an interest in the county contract a year or two ago, none of those companies submitted bids once the contract came up to be bid.
With the waste disposal bid being the only item on the agenda for Wednesday’s continued meeting, no other matters were discussed or approved.
During staff reports at the meeting, Gilliland addressed the commission and attendees regarding the county’s website. She stated that she and their office had received numerous calls regarding the garbage pickup issue, but also the county website.
“Just to make this clear, we post agendas and minutes on our website as a courtesy,” she stated. “It is not a requirement. Since we do so much in our office, right now we’ve had to re-prioritize. I’m under a state and a federal audit because of ARPA funds and things going on in the state, in every county, that have never been done before. So, if you read the newspaper, her articles from these commission meetings are identical to our minutes. We have certain guidelines before we can post the minutes anyway.”
“Instead of calling me, going to commissioners, texting and emailing with complaints, just call us and ask us,” she added. “We’ll tell you what’s going on. There are three of us running the office, and we wear three hats a piece, and we’re quite busy. I just appreciate you reaching out to us in the office and not going sideways and just letting us tell you what’s going on. That’s just the way I work. I’m as transparent as I can be. That’s the way I think it should be. If you need to know something, just call us and ask us.”
During further comments, she reiterated that the minutes are posted to the county website as a courtesy, not a requirement, but that citizens can come to the office anytime and “look at anything we’re doing.”
“We have to re-prioritize every day, but if you see the [news]paper, it’s exactly what our minutes are,” she stated. “I just wish people, before you get out and talk and post all these things, that you understand how things work or ask the questions before you do that. It would really help a lot. If there is ever a question, call us.”
Gilliland also mentioned that she spends quite a bit of time on the phone trying to correct misinformation that is being spread at any time about various topics.
She further explained that minutes from a commission meeting are not approved until the following commission meeting. For instance, the minutes from the three-part meeting this month will not be approved until the April meeting.
However, while the minutes may not immediately be posted on the website, they are available in the commission office. She explained that with the office being so busy with other higher priority things, having someone go online to post the minutes is the least priority.
“We get a lot of complaints every single day,” she stated. “So let’s just try to work together and be a solution instead of causing problems.”
The next regularly scheduled County Commission meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 11.
