Weekend garbage routes ending

After some concerns were raised by members of the public and after discussion by the City Council at the city’s strategic planning session in February, Vestavia Hills residents whose trash was being picked up on Wednesdays and Saturdays will see their routes shifted to either being picked up on Monday and Thursday or on Tuesday and Friday, said City Manager Jeff Downes.

Downes had previously talked about some issues specifically with Saturday pickups, including residents complaining about the noise of pickups early on Saturday mornings or forgetting to set trash out. Because of that, he told the council at the March 8 meeting that those routes would be shifted to existing weekly routes.

Nothing else is changing regarding the routes and Amwaste is still requesting that residents try to put their recycling in their second days’ pickup. Residents should contact the city if they have any questions about their service. Information about new routes was expected to be delivered to affected residents in mid-March, Downes said.

The only items the council needed to debate at the meeting were the special license for the annual Wing Dings event, allowing the sale of alcohol at the event, which will be held during the last week of April, and a resolution allowing Downes to declare three police vehicles as surplus. Both items were approved.

Council member Kimberly Cook announced an upcoming vacancy on the Vestavia Hills Board of Education, which is a five-year term. The application period opens March 9 and closes April 12. Interviews will be conducted either April 15 or 16, and the council will vote on a new board member on April 26 at the regularly scheduled council meeting.

The term of current BOE president Lisa Baker is set to expire in June.