The City Council vote on whether to hire an outside contractor to pick up garbage and recyclables in Kewanee was tied.
Councilmen Mike Komnick and Steve Faber had voted “yes” and Councilmen Chris Colomer and Tyrone Baker had voted “no.” It was up to Mayor Gary Moore to break the tie.
“I have very powerful reservations going both directions,” Moore said before voting. Earlier in the meeting, he had said, “If we decide to privatize, we’re really going out on a limb here. I’m not willing to cut my own throat with the city just to save a few dollars.”
But after a brief pause, the mayor voted “yes.”
The firm will charge Kewanee $1.04 million for the first year, $1.102 million the second year, $1.147 million the third year, $1.192 million the fourth year and $1,240 million the fifth year,
In a report to the council prior to its Feb. 26, Public Works Director Kevin Newton wrote, “The annual cost to sustain these services (trash and recyclables pickups), which covers the maintenance and operation of a transfer station, is approximately $1.5 million.” He added, “For the city to sustain these services, it will require purchasing new garbage trucks and initiate a bulk recycling program, all at an estimated initial capital cost of around $900.000.”
The city will continue to operate the transfer station while Lakeshore is picking up trash and recyclables.
Reservations on the part of council members about hiring Lakeshore had focused on an issue at the city’s transfer station that has gone unresolved for several weeks.
A pup truck that moves trailers around the station has been out of service, which has caused problems for the city crew that works there.
Andrew Kovacik, district manager for Lakeshore, told the council that company officials have been aware of the problem for at least three weeks, and have still not made a decision on whether to repair the truck or replace it with a new one. He said a meeting with corporate officials is scheduled for Tuesday to make that decision.
Colomer said the delay in taking care of the pup truck problem had given him doubts, and that the matter was “an issue that should have been resolved.”
And Moore told Kovacik and Lakeshore municipal manager Steve Ramos, “As a customer. we need to feel like we’re the most important customer you have.”
Customer service for Kewanee residents was one of the major concerns expressed by council members and several city employees who addressed the council.
Kovacik and Ramos said Lakeshore has a customer service center in Monmouth, and the company will provide a phone number Kewanee residents can call in case of any problems with the pickup service.
“We will answer every phone call,” Kovacik said. He said the center usually handles around 100 customer service calls a day from residents in the many communities Lakeshore serves.
Unless the city provides garage space for the three trucks Lakeshore will use in the pickup operations, the trucks will be housed in Atkinson and driven to Kewanee five days a week.
The Lakeshore officials said if the contract was approved Monday, the company should be able to start services in Kewanee by late summer or early fall.
The council has said — and Moore assured the city employees in the audience Monday — that no city workers will lose their jobs as a result of hiring Lakeshore. Those who now work on garbage and recycling pickup will be assigned to other jobs in the public works department.
The mayor also said residents will continue to receive bills for garbage and recycling pickup from the city, not from Lakeshore.
