There are currently three trash services serving the residents of Pea Ridge. Each picks up on different days of the week.
City officials are contemplating contracting with one company to pick up all trash in the city.
According to Mayor Jackie Crabtree, city Street Department superintendent Nathan See and building official Tony Townsend worked with Wendy Cravens from Benton County Solid Waste Management, on this project.
"Take it home and look over and discuss in February," Crabtree told council members. "Basically, we're trying to go to a single hauler in the area to provide trash and recycle curbside. That way we won't have three different companies coming through our city on different days and tearing up our streets."
The mayor said the service would be required for every resident and would be billed through the Water Department on the water bill.
"Everybody that is in the city limits will have to have trash service," he said. "We have people in the city who we have trouble having them pick up their trash."
"They put it behind privacy fences, cover it with tarps," Townsend said.
Council member Bob Cottingham asked if the recycling offered would mean the trailers now used for recycling would be eliminated.
"Yes," Crabtree said.
"I'm not sure I want to do away with that, because I like that," Cottingham said.
"If we have an issue with that," the mayor said, "We can still get the cardboard trailer up here."
Council member Ray Easley asked if there would be exceptions to the requirement to contract for the trash service and was told that the company being considered requires "all or nothing," according to See, who added that the large trucks do damage the roads.
"What kind of recourse is there for people who don't want it?" Lance Sanders, council member, asked.
"If they don't pay trash bill, then water can be shut off," Crabtree said. "We'd like to get it out by February and start in March. We don't have a deadline; we're working with the bidders to get it down as best we can."
The contract had a bid bond of $100,000 which council members and city attorney Howard Slinkard agreed was excessive.
"I think that's directly out of what other cities have done," Crabtree said.
"We're not near as big as Springdale," Easley responded.
"You guys just go through it and bring it back in February," See said.
"It will reduce a lot of wear and tear on the streets," Townsend said. "We're like one of the only cities in this area that doesn't have a singular trash service in this area."
In other business, during the January City Council meeting, the council:
• Approved declaring a 2004 1-ton Chevrolet pickup truck as surplus
• Approved an ordinance adopting the 2014 Arkansas Energy Code with the emergency clause making it go into effect immediately;
• Approved a resolution adopting the bike and pedestrian master plan;
• Reappointed Heather Clark to a five-year term to the Planning Commission; and
• Reappointed Dottie Adriano to a five-year term to the Library Board.
General News on 02/04/2015