(Red Oak) — After the recent consolidation of two local haulers, Red Oak city officials plan to re-bid the city’s contract regarding the recycling dumpsters early next year.

At its regular meeting Monday evening, the Red Oak City Council unanimously approved a resolution clarifying that Town and Country is now the city’s partner on the 28E agreement for transporting the recycling dumpsters and that the contract will be re-bid at the start of the new calendar year. The move comes after Town and Country purchased Batten Sanitation following the retirement of long-time Batten Sanitation Vice President Lynette Bruce. While indicating the council can give preference to the company already handling the contract, City Administrator Lisa Kotter says the city does have some level of “due diligence” to re-bid the contract.

“I think some level of due diligence is probably wise, and just like Kevin (Carlisle) said, he’s learning about this himself,” said Kotter. “So I’m not suggesting that we have to bid it out immediately, I’d just like (the council) to say ‘yes, we’re for sure using Town and Country until we get to the point of (re-bidding).’ But, I’d like probably until after the holidays to prepare the bid document if you’d like to do that. Most of our surrounding communities actually don’t use the private sector, they use Page County. Brian is the manager there and he did talk about that they could also service this and I said, if the council bid it out, he could put in a bid.”

Kotter noted that once they are ready to bid out the contract, requests would be open only to the four companies currently servicing Red Oak or to a government entity. Town and Country’s Kevin Carlisle indicated that, while he is new to recycling, he is working with representatives from the Page County Transfer Station, where the bins are hauled, to see if there are potential cost savings. He says that while cardboard is heavily used by the community, other items, such as glass and tin, do not fill up the dumpsters nearly as quickly.

“Just so you guys do know as you move forward with this, I’m trying to work with the guys and figure out a way to see if there’s room to cut some costs,” said Carlisle. “If they got to deliver and take that cardboard down on Friday afternoon, I mean, at the end of the day, if it has to be done, it has to be done.”

Kotter says in talks with the Batten, Town and Country, and the Page County Transfer Station, there are likely opportunities to reduce transportation costs by ensuring dumpsters are full or near full before delivery. She notes that it is primarily due to a flat fee that the companies are charged for bringing in loads from out of the county.

“What happens is, is that because we’re not part of the county taxing system, we get charged an out-of-county tax basically, how they help pay for things in lieu of us paying taxes to the county,” Kotter explained. “So right off the bat, when we drive in the door, it’s a $100 dollars for the load, and then it’s $70 per a ton and ours are typically 130 to 150–between Lynette and Page County, that’s what they said. So, if what you’re taking isn’t full, then you’re paying $100 no matter what for ‘not full’ containers.”

Kotter says that it is also about striking a balance between cost savings and utilizing local companies for the service. She pointed to the recent discussions on garbage collection and ultimately implementing a $4 monthly fee on residents’ utility bills to pay for cleanup days as a similar situation.

“So when you look at the fact that we increased the utility bill to pay for the cleanups, which I think we all agree is a productive conversation,” she said, “maybe there is some room to also be able to reduce that by 50 cents on the number that is the little over $2 charge for the recycling. So that’s kind of the consideration.”

Kotter notes it will likely be January or February before the council goes through the re-bidding process.

In other business Monday, the council…

–Held the swearing in ceremony for recently hired City Finance Manager-Clerk Carrie Shalters.

–Approved a resolution setting a public hearing for its December 15th meting on the sale of city-owned property at 107 East Grimes.

–Approved utilizing and implementing the same procurement policy as Montgomery County.

–Approved setting a strategic planning session for December 30th at 9 a.m.

–Approved the hiring of McKenna Sampson as the city utility customer service and administrative assistant for $20 an hour. Kotter says 13 applications were submitted for the position, with five candidates interviewed.

–Approved the Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Financial Report and the Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Street Report.

Thank you for reading kmaland.com

At KMA, we attempt to be accurate in our reporting. If you see a typo or mistake in a story, please contact us by emailing kmaradio@kmaland.com.