Sunflower County residents may be on the verge of getting some much needed relief from the mounds of garbage that have been left behind due to the reported lag in pickups by the county's garbage collection service, Waste Pro USA.
In conjunction with the pilot trash-collection program that was approved and implemented by the board last week, County Administrator Fred Washington announced at Monday's meeting of the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors that the county's first garbage truck had arrived and as soon as the insurance coverage and other paperwork is finalized the truck will be on the roads.
Washington said that he had travelled to Texas to physically check the truck out himself prior to purchasing it. "They did some modifications to it, we had a tipper added on the back so that the garbage can just roll up in there and it'll flip it over," Washington said. The county reportedly acquired the truck for $34,500.
Washington was slated to buy two trucks to handle the county's load, but he told the county leaders on Monday that he had put a hold on the second truck while he awaits a decision from the City of Moorhead on whether or not they would agree to sell or lease their truck, which is currently on loan to the county.
According to him, Moorhead is not currently using their truck to collect garbage; they are under contract with a private company.
Washington also presented one person as a potential hire to drive the truck and the board voted to hire them contingent upon the person passing the physical and successfully completing the required endorsements to handle the heavy equipment.
The prospective employee currently has a commercial passenger license, but additional certifications are required for driving the garbage truck.
Attorney Johnny McWilliams then asked if Waste Pro USA was still collecting any of the county's garbage and Road Manager T.J. Fairley said they were, but sparingly. "Every now and then," he said.
Washington added, "They (Waste Pro) told me that they'll start picking up the roll-offs and their cans today, the dumpsters—the 8-yard and the 30-yard—they'll start picking those up today."
Then, after a closed executive session, Chancery Clerk Gloria McIntosh announced that the county will contract with Waste Management System to handle the county's commercial dumpster sites.
Washington said that he expects to finalize the details of the contract on Wednesday. Waste Management will be responsible for servicing the eight-yard containers at the courthouse, justice court building, county jail, Department of Human Services, the health department, Life Help, and Eastmoor Subdivision in Moorhead.
In addition, they will also be responsible for the 30-yard roll-off containers at the road barns in Indianola, Blaine, Drew, and on Main Street in Rome. Delivery of the containers is expected to start today.
Also in other personnel news, the county lawmakers approved the hiring of two heavy equipment operators and one equipment operator for the road department. They will be replacing existing hirees. In addition, the county leaders accepted the resignation of a road department mechanic.
In other business,
The lawmakers accepted a quoted price of $8,464 to replace a 7.5-ton air conditioning unit that is to be installed at the health department.
County Engineer Ron Cassada submitted the final paperwork for the Park Avenue project in Drew and the county leaders accepted it as finished. They also spent several minutes discussing the engineering invoice submission process and approved payment invoices on several county bridge projects.
Additionally, the county leaders voted to pull more than $180,000 from their $1.6 million in State Aid Project funds to complete bridge construction over the Quiver River. Cassada said, "The Blackwood Road is the one that came in really high. It's our biggest bridge; it runs across the Quiver River. Our estimate was $1,324,000, the actual low bid was $1,864,700."
He added that even though the bid is high, state officials think that it is likely a good bid considering the steadily escalating cost of materials. The county did receive additional monies that were provided through grants, but even with that, Cassada said the county was still $180,070.03 short.
The county leaders also heard a request from representatives of the Sunflower County Department of Human Services with regard to temporarily increasing the number of hours and pay for two employees who are responsible for cleaning and sanitizing the facilities in Indianola and Ruleville beginning July 1.
The request is for an increase from $8 per hour to $10 per hour and a temporary move from part-time to full-time. District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald made a motion to approve the request and use "the COVID money" to pay for the increase.
The county has reportedly so far received $2,438,661.50 in American Rescue Plan funds. However, Attorney Johnny McWilliams stated that he would not recommend using any of that money until after the July 10 target date and after they have established a budget designating how the money is to be used.
Donald's motion passed with the understanding that they would also inquire to see if full benefits could be paid from the federal funds.
