Photo by Erin Nelson
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Residential garbage cans line a portion of Round Hill Road in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, on Thursday, July 9, 2020.
UPDATE: A previous version of this article was unclear. City Manager Jeff Downes has promoted the option that would save the city $773,000 per year. The Council has not endorsed any specific plan.
The sanitation bid with Amwaste was approved at the July 13 Vestavia Hills City Council meeting, but details about the level of service and how much money the city will pay the trash services provider is yet to be determined.
The approval of the bid is simply affirming that the city will use Amwaste for sanitation services, as they were the low bidder for all of the options that were presented to the city during the bidding process.
Approving the bid also allows Amwaste to purchase equipment that will be needed for them to begin providing services to the city beginning Oct. 2, the day after the city’s current contract with Republic Services ends.
There has been much discussion on social media and at two public meetings about the level of service residents expect out of the new sanitation provider, with much of it centering on how often trash is picked up.
Multiple options are being considered by the city, but only two of the options would be an increase to the sanitation budget for fiscal year 2020. Those options are option two, which includes twice-weekly trash pickup and once-weekly recycling, and option three, which includes twice-weekly trash pickup and twice-monthly recycling. Option two, which is similar to the current level of service provided by Republic, would be an increase of about $235,000, while option three would be an increase of about $55,000.
The option previously touted by City Manager Jeff Downes includes once-weekly trash pickup and recycling, which will be done automatically by Amwaste; residents will not have to separate their recyclables like they have been doing. That will not change, regardless of which option the city chooses. Amwaste partners with RePower South in Montgomery to process recyclables. RePower South repurposes about 70% of the trash it receives and converts the rest to feedstock fuel as a replacement for coal in industrial and utility boilers, said Downes.
That option would save the city roughly $773,000, which would go toward hiring more first responders.
Amwaste would provide each household in Vestavia Hills up to three full-size garbage carts with no charge and additional garbage carts for a nominal fee, Downes said.
Bulk debris and yard waste pickup still would be provided within 10 business days of requests, he said.
Additionally, all Amwaste trucks are equipped with cameras and GPS trackers that provide real-time and historical location and speed data to eliminate guesswork about whether any streets or stops were missed, Downes said.
City officials are paying close attention to feedback from residents, he said. At least 140 people submitted comments on the topic on the Vestavia Hills Listens portal on the city’s website, and officials also are open to emails and phone calls, Downes said. Comments can be emailed to city.council@vhal.org.
Vestavia Hills officials have considered partnering with another city such as Hoover to perhaps achieve even more economies of scale. However, Hoover’s contract with Santek doesn’t expire for another year, and Vestavia needs to make a decision now, Downes said in mid-July.
A partnership could be considered down the road, but “right now, we’re not focused on anything but Vestavia Hills,” he said.
Details on the level of service and the approval of the contract are not expected to happen until later in August or in early September.
Other Business
In his report to the Council, Downes said there are three separate youth baseball tournaments confirmed for this summer in the city, including one at the new Cahaba Heights Park. The ballparks at the park recently opened, while landscaping work is continuing to be done.
The city has also been awarded the July 2021 state youth softball tournament, which had been held at Lagoon Park in Montgomery. The 2021 tournament will be held in Liberty Park, Downes said. While the city wants to prioritize granting access to amenities to residents, especially as those amenities are improved and added through the Community Spaces Plan, it is a positive step to bring in such tournaments, Downes said.
During citizen comments, City Clerk Rebecca Leavings read an email from Larry Durham, who also spoke to the Council, in which he opposed and asked the city to oppose the redevelopment of property on Rocky Ridge Road.
The property, located in Jefferson County, is currently zoned for single-family homes, but Charles Kessler is seeking to have it rezoned for multifamily housing and recently had a modified plan approved by the county’s planning and zoning commission. Kessler was seeking two 25-unit condominiums, but the revised plan is for one 25-unit condominium building and 10 garden homes, lowering the total number of units from 50 to 35.
Durham said he and others in the neighborhood are concerned about an increase to traffic and possible drainage problems, and prefer that the property stays zoned for single-family housing.
“This is Vestavia,” Durham said. “This is our home; this is our community.”
The Council also approved the refinancing of Series A and Series B bonds, with the interest rate lowering by 2%, on average, saving the city $2.7 million, which is given as a lump sum payment at the closing of the agreement.
In other business, the Council:
• Appointed Leavings as the municipal election manager
• Approved the use of electronic vote counting and marking devices for the municipal election
• Declared five public service vehicles and one police vehicle as surplus
• Authorized Downes and Curry to use $1.5 million in CARES Act funding to reimburse the city for roughly $1.48 million in COVID-19 related expenses.
• Introduced an ordinance to be voted on at a later meeting that would amend the city’s small-cell technology ordinance to clarify that any use of small-cell technology on city equipment would not interfere with the work of Alabama Power.
