BENTON – The City of Benton is working to educate the community about a change in trash service that is slowly being implemented city-wide and clear up any confusion created through the delivery of new garbage cans.
City Mayor Rita Dotson reports that the city has been in the process of transitioning from providing the service in-house to outsourcing it to a private company. “When Mayor Steve Cary was still in office, he felt like we needed to get out of the trash business and I agreed,” Dotson said. “We had several issues from getting help to concerns from citizens over the use of inmates and having to pull employees from maintenance when they could have been doing other things.”
Dotson said the council put out specs for bids and received three, choosing Republic services. She says while not the cheapest option, the company offered to assist the city with trash pickup from elderly and disabled customers which was a big advantage.
“Our main concern was that these cans are 96 gallons which a frail, elderly or handicapped person could not easily get to the street. Republic has offered, if the city furnishes a list, to go behind the houses to get the cans,” Dotson said – which is something she notes inmate labor formerly utilized by the city, was not allowed to do.
Additionally, the Mayor adds that a 96 gallon trash can will accommodate a larger amount of bagged trash for residents. “We have had a really good reception from people so far,” she reports of the coming changes, but recent placement of the new trash cans prior to any sort of official notice going out has caused some confusion.
Dotson said while in transition, the city is still running the garbage routes and asks that residents refrain from using the new blue trash cans until they receive notification from Republic of their new pickup day.
Republic will serve the city on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and each resident will be receiving notice in the mail of the day on which their garbage will be picked up.
The new trash service will use an automated arm on trucks to empty cans, therefore Dotson said they ask that individual bags not be placed on the ground individually as it will require manual disposal and will delay pickup. Additional cans are available to residents for $4 per month if needed.
Mayor Dotson reports that many residents have already received their new cans and says they should also be receiving a letter today or tomorrow outlining more information about the new service. In the future, Republic could also be offering commercial and recycling services within the community if all goes well.
As for the benefits of utilizing the new service, Dotson says the city will be able to collect a 5 percent fee for continuing to handle billing and will also be able to sell city-owned garbage equipment. She says the city hopes to upgrade vehicles and purchase a salt plow and spreader with the proceeds. The increase cost to city residents will be $1.40 per month over the former $9 per-month charge.
“Anything extra that we make on this new service, we will be putting back into a maintenance fund to replace water and sewer lines in the city,” she said, making it a win-win for residents of the city. Some water lines in the city date back to to the 1930’s and have plagued city leaders for some time particularly as state and federal water project funds continue to decline. This new revenue stream could offer some relief to what has been an ongoing battle for the city to obtain needed funding for projects such as these.
For more information on the new service, please call City Hall at 270-527-8677.
Basic Information:
* Trash cans should be placed by the curb before 6 a.m.
* Place the cart at least 3 feet from any object
* Don’t lean anything against the cart
* Don’t place your cart under a tree
* Place cart one foot from the curb or edge of the driveway
* Place the arrows on the lid of the cart toward the street, with the lid closed
* Do NOT place the following items in your cart:
– Tires
– Freon
– Paint
-Construction Debris
– Car Batteries
– Hazardous Liquids