Polk County commissioners approved a plan that they hope will cut the county’s sanitation price by roughly $200,000 a year. The plan will include a new garbage hauler, along with county owned and operated equipment.
Meeting at the Community Center in Ducktown Tuesday, October 8, the commission voted unanimously to move forward with Universal Waste for the new county provider for service.
Universal Waste will haul garbage from Polk County to the Meadow Branch landfill in McMinn County, Tennessee, under a three-year contract with Polk County. Contracts with the current garbage service providers are set to expire December 31.
County Executive Robby Hatcher said there will be no price to drop off garbage and nothing will change for the citizens of Polk County other than the garbage sites will be run by the county.
The commissioners also voted to purchase garbage crushers and equipment from Baker Waste. The total cost is $324,880, whick includes spare parts.
Baker Waste was the low bidder and met all qualifications. District 1 Commissioner James Woody made a motion to approve the resolution and District 2 Commissioner Greg Brooks seconded the motion.
Hatcher said Polk County would be taking out a $325,000 loan from Tennessee Municipal Bond Fund to pay off the amount owed to Baker Waste for garbage equipment. The loan is a 10 year note with the exception of no penalties for an early payoff.
The county will buy two pre-crushers with one going at the garbage site in Grassy Creek and the other at the garbage site in Benton.
After the one time equipment purchase, Polk County is expected to spend around $672,000 a year for the garbage haul bill, tonnage bill and day to day operations of the garbage sites.
Hatcher said he averaged out the previous providers’ fees, arriving at a figure of around $868,000 a year.
Brooks spoke to previous providers, Santek and Advanced Disposal, when the commissioners were discussing the decision. In March of this year, the board approved open bidding on waste providers to try to cut county costs. Santek who worked for the west end of the county, came up with roughly a $20,000 a year price increase and Advanced Disposal, who was over the east end of the county, increased roughly $103,000. Brooks said, “We bid this out to y’all, and you all submitted a bid at 40% increase. We made a good faith effort to try to re-bid and try to save more money for the county in some way.”
Brooks continued saying, “Ya’ll don’t have to do it, but I would like for you all to give us six (the commissioners at the meeting) and every citizen in Polk County an explanation why your second bid was more than the first.”
One provider then said, “We are going to make a statement to the mayor.”
Brooks said, “So ya’ll don’t want to say something in an open meeting with the newspaper here?”
The representatives from Santek and Advanced Disposal declined to speak and left before the meeting was adjourned.