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Joe P. Asher

Staff Writer

The Harlan County Fiscal Court discussed the need for a new garbage packer during a recent meeting.

Harlan County Judge-Executive Joe Greishop asked Harlan County Solid Waste Coordinator Lakis Mavinidis for some information concerning a new packer.

“They are working on that current packer constantly,” said Grieshop. “We had asked you to go ahead and look at some sizing and potential specifications, and then if we agree, we can vote to go to a reverse bidding process with KACo (Kentucky Association of Counties).”

Mavinidis updated the court on his progress.

“I have called three different truck makers and given them the information they need as to what we do with the packer and by the weekend they should give us the information as to what a truck like that would cost and how long it would take to get one,” said Mavinidis.

“You don’t have any specs today?” inquired Grieshop.

“The specs that we have would be anything from a 16- to a 20-yard packer,” said Mavinidis. “The packer that we have now is an older packer it may be a 20-yarder, but we may could do the same job with a 16-yarder if we had a packer that picks up the material and is a smaller truck. We tried to stay with a packer that would be under a CDL license if possible but if not then we will have to do what’s necessary.”

According to Mavinidis, there are advantages with using a smaller truck.

“The smaller the packer the easier it is to get in and out of locations. It makes it safer to back it in and out, so that’s what we’re looking at,” said Mavinidis. “They gave me some information about what it could cost, but because it’s one of those bidding processes it’s hard to say how much it would be.”

Mavinidis pointed out he did not have enough information to give an exact cost.

“They can’t tell us what truck to get until they see what size packer they can put on the truck,” said Mavinidis. “Certain auto makers will not allow a certain size packer on a specific size truck. So that has to be determined before you can decide which one to get.”

“This is an expenditure which will help generate money, ” said Grieshop. “We’re spending so much money on repairs on the other one, I don’t know if you have any figures, but it’s adding up to be quite a bit. We all know when you have a car that gets older, you put more money into it than it’s worth and that’s the point we’ve reached.”

“If we do agree to go to KACo we would have to give them the spec information before they would do it. They would take it from there, they would give us the advertisement to put in the paper then they would do the reverse bidding. All the companies around that were interested would keep bidding down and down until each had reached their lowest point,” explained Grieshop.

According to Mavinidis, a new packer would cost in the area of $75,000 to $100,000.

A motion was passed to use the KACo reverse bidding process for a cardboard packer for the recycling center.

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