County moving forward to privatize garbage service

The board voted 3-0 this week to accept “Proposal B” from Taylor Waste Services Inc., to handle the collection and disposal of solid waste for the county, which would permit the county to exit the solid waste collection and disposal.

However, the county will continue to be responsible for the employment and supervision over the part-time attendants who man the county’s manned dumpster sites.

Under the proposal agreed to on Tuesday, Taylor will serve the 182 front load containers at the five manned dumpsites, which includes the new site just outside of Whigham that will open later this month or in March, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or as needed. Taylor Waste will also service 11 containers that are located at various locations within the county as part of the agreement.

The 10 roll-off containers located at the manned sites will be serviced at a cost of $185 per load and the county would be responsible for tipping fees for the roll-off containers only.

Grady County administrator J.C. (Buddy) Johnson III, says the county budgets $950,000 annually for its solid waste operation. Based on the cost of privatizing the service with Taylor the county’s expense increases to approximately $983,000.

Although the county’s expense to privatize the solid waste collection and disposal service with Taylor is higher than what the county currently spends, the county administrator said that regardless the county is going to have to spend approximately $250,000 this year on a new garbage truck and could possibly have to purchase a second one next year. Those are expenses the county could eliminate by going with the private vendor.

That annual expense does not include the additional expense to taxpayers to construct and man two additional dumpsites that are on the drawing board. Grady County finance director Holly Murkerson says the cost to employ three attendants per site is approximately $1,200 per month.

“I literally have spent hours with Holly and Buddy running the numbers and, in my personal opinion, it’s the way we should go. We can clean up this county, get the job done, and move forward with closing the nine remaining unmanned sites under this proposal,” Chairman Drew said.

The commission chairman asked the board to review the monthly report from the road department where he highlighted the various road department personnel who are having to be pulled off of their duties to assist with solid waste related work. “We are pulling people off their jobs to to deal with solid waste,” Drew said.

County officials are hopeful of locating a suitable site for another manned site in the Beachton area of the county.

“We really need one in Beachton,” Commission Vice Chairman Keith Moye said.

Chairman Drew concurred, but said that the county had not been able to identify a centrally located tract of land to establish a manned site in Beachton.

“If anyone has a suggestion or is willing to sell the county approximately two acres, please contact us,” Chairman Drew said.

The county plans to locate a suitable spot in the northeast section of the county for the seventh manned site, according to county road superintendent Stanley Elkins, who also manages the county’s solid waste operation.

Johnson noted that even with the additional expense of manning the two additional sites in the future, the county would have those costs regardless, since the board has decided to close all unmanned sites.

“We need at least one more, but hopefully two. That is still the plan,” Johnson said.

Under the proposal, Taylor will purchase the existing 182 front load containers at a purchase price of $3,640. The locally owned company will also replace containers as they become unserviceable. Taylor has also agreed to purchase all equipment in the sanitation department at “fair market value,” but that price has not been determined.

Chairman Drew said that Tuesday’s vote will authorize “the attorneys” for both the county and Taylor to draw up a contract. Administrator Johnson said once the Whigham site is opened, the county can proceed with transitioning to Taylor Waste.

“This has been a long process, but I appreciate everyone who had a part in this. We are going to clean up this county. This is a win-win for the community. We will have a cleaner, attractive county and we have the opportunity to do business with a locally owned company that employs local people and pays taxes here,” Chairman Drew said.

Commissioners Ray Prince and LaFaye Copeland were absent Tuesday.

In other business Tuesday, the board approved the purchase of 1,500 tons of #5 granite rock from CalMart Inc., at a cost of $49,500. The county will be responsible for hauling the rock from the plant in Meigs. The price for the purchase of the rock from CalMart and for the company to haul it to the county was $63,000.