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Joe P. Asher

Staff Writer

The Cumberland City Council continued discussions concerning the possibility of turning the city’s garbage service over to Waste Connections Inc. during a meeting on Tuesday.

Mayor Carl Hatfield brought Waste Connections representative Carl Towne in front of the council.

“The last time we were here, the mayor brought up your truck is old and there are issues you’re having with it,” said Towne. “As you go on, your cost is going to increase.”

Hatfield explained there have already been problems with the current truck

“We just spent almost $6,000 on this truck last month, and we’re having problems with it again in almost the same areas that we spent the $6,000 on,” said Hatfield.

Council member Carolyn Elliott brought up some other options.

“We can get a new truck for $125,000 to $130,000 with a state contract,” said Elliott. “We’ve got around 860 customers not counting our commercial pick ups. That’s $12,800 a month just for routine customers…but it just seems feasible to me that we could have taken $7,000 or whatever it’s costing and put that in on a new packer.”

According to Elliott, the city’s current packer could possibly be repaired and kept as a back up.

“Our average monthly income from solid waste pickup is $18,279. At the end of the month we would have about a $2,000 balance at the end of the month. That’s what we would get if they (Waste Connections Inc.) collected it,” said Hatfield.

Alan Jones, who was attending the meeting, spoke up from the audience.

“My name’s Alan Jones, and I own a garage in Harlan,” said Jones. “How about bidding it out?”

Hatfield asked Jones if he was in the garbage collection business. Jones confirmed that he was representing V & A Garbage Service.

“Bidding it out, you’ll come out a lot cheaper,” said Jones. “You’ll get the same quality of service and keep your money in Harlan.”

“I’d like to address one thing the gentleman said,” responded Towne. “We’re not throwing stones at anybody either, but he makes the comment that the money stays in Harlan. Every one of our drivers is local. When you go out and buy a truck or he (Jones) goes out and buys a truck it’s not Harlan it’s going to be in some other county or state. So, the money stays. The money stays here in the area and it’s going to be spent in the area whether it’s this gentleman or us.”

Council member Charles Raleigh suggested “since we’ve found out about the new gentleman (Jones) I guess we should entertain it. Get some figures from both sides. I’d hate to say yea or nay when I didn’t know we had anyone else interested.”

The council decided to advertise for bids on the contract before making a final decision.

Reach Joe P. Asher at 606-573-4510 or jasher@heartlandpublications.com