Photos by Sarah Finnegan.
A Birmingham Recycling and Recovery worker sweeps recycled items back onto the conveyor belt.
The Vestavia Hills City Council on May 24 voted to form the Cahaba Solid Waste Disposal Authority, with the hope that the move will give the city more options when their current sanitation contract expires.
Mayor Ashley Curry said no changes will be made to the existing contract or services provided by Amwaste, which have been lauded by both the council and City Manager Jeff Downes. Hoover has already voted to form the regional authority, while other cities, including Pelham, Mountain Brook, Homewood and Trussville have expressed interest. To be legally incorporated, three cities must vote to form the authority, Downes previously said.
The benefits to joining the authority, Downes said at the May 10 meeting, would be the ability to choose the best provider for their services, as opposed to being bound by the competitive bid law, mandating the city must accept the lowest bid offered for services. It also gives them different options regarding the length of contract, pricing and providers, Downes said, but they would not be mandated to use the provider chosen by the authority.
The other item of note at the meeting was the rezoning of 1121 Winward Lane for the construction of four single-family homes. The property was rezoned from a medium-density residential district to a planned residential district. The developer will add additional paving for parking and deliveries, and drainage shouldn’t be a problem, said a representative for the owners.
In other business, the council:
- Approved an amendment to a resolution correcting the legal description of the vacation of a drainage easement
- Approved the declaration of a police vehicle and library computers as surplus
- Approved the payment to Jefferson County for GIS data
- Approved the renaming of portions of Old Montgomery Highway, Lee Avenue and Waldridge Road as Waldridge Road and naming a secondary street running perpendicular to Waldridge Road as Waldridge Lane
- Approved the levying of both Jefferson and Shelby County taxes
Items brought up on first read that are expected to be voted on at an upcoming meeting included:
- A resolution accepting a bid for the dog park at the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex
- A resolution authorizing Downes to deliver a proposal with Gresham Smith for redesign alternatives for the pedestrian bridge, which recently came in over budget in its initial bidding process.
- A resolution authorizing additional funding and a time extension for the SHAC pedestrian tunnel
- A resolution repealing and replacing the city’s massage parlor ordinance, which is designed to give the city more regulatory power over massage parlors
- An agreement with the city of Homewood for mutual aid in the sharing of fire department equipment.
