Council returns Monday for double session
After an unusual early summer break of more than three weeks, the Maryville City Council goes back to work with a vengeance at 5:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, when the five-member governing board is to gather for a “workshop” regarding the future of Maryville’s solid waste disposal system.
The discussion, to which representatives of local refuse hauling companies have been invited, is expected to focus on efforts to eliminate approximately $100,000 in annual deficit spending required to operate the city’s solid waste transfer station on North Main Street.
A regular council meeting, the first since May 27, will follow the workshop at 7 p.m.
The problem with the transfer station is that competition from the private sector has forced the city to reduce volume-based charges while facing a steady decline in tonnage. In fiscal 2015, the transfer station, which costs around $370,000 a year to operate, required a $109,000 subsidy from the General Fund.
In theory, the station is supposed to support itself through tipping fees” applied per ton of waste and mostly derived from a half-dozen commercial trash haulers who provide garbage pickup service to Maryville residents and businesses.
The success of a similar station operated by Porter Trash Service east of town has forced the city to reduce tipping fees while facing a steady decline in tonnage.
Also contributing to the city’s solid waste woes is a $30,000-a-year bill from the state Department of Natural Resources for gas and groundwater monitoring at the old city landfill, which closed in 2001 under a DNR mandate.
Several weeks ago, the council heard a staff presentation outlining options for getting the transfer station back on fiscal track. Proposals on the table include municipalization, meaning the city would either conduct trash collection itself, or, more likely, contract with a single private hauler following the submission of competitive bids.
Efforts in 2000 and 2001 to first privatize and then municipalize solid waste service went nowhere and resulted in legal action against the city.
Business before the council during its regular Monday meeting includes:
• Approval of more than 30 licenses for liquor-by-the-drink, package liquor, Sunday liquor and 5 percent beer retailers inside the city limits. Under municipal ordinance, all such licenses must be renewed July 1 following payment of fees and inspections by city code enforcement and fire division officials.
• An amendment to the city’s operation and maintenance agreement with PeopleService Inc., which manages Maryville’s water and sewer treatment plants. The amendment reduces PeopleService’s monthly compensation for July through September from $58,395 TO $42,395 due to a reduction in the chemical budget of $48,000.
• A zoning change confirmation for the newly annexed Solar Ridge subdivision, a 1.6-acre tract at the west end of Carefree Drive on the south side of town. The land, owned by Double D Development, currently carries a Polk Township zoning designation of A-1 Agricultural and is designated Urban Reserve under the city’s comprehensive plan.
• An ordinance updating procedures municipal employees and officials must follow when disclosing potential conflicts of interest. Under Missouri law, the requirements must be renewed by the city every two years.
• A measure to authorizing Nodaway Valley Bank to continue providing the city with banking, investment and depository services.
• An ordinance authorizing the purchase of a new mower and trailer from Medsker Sales & Service Inc. of Graham for a total of $12,100. The mower will be used to cut grass at Oak Hill Cemetery, the city’s three water tower sites and sanitary sewer lift stations.
• An ordinance authorizing the purchase of two John Deere riding greens mowers for use at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park. The proposed vendor is Van-Wall Equipment of Olathe, Kan., who offered a purchase price of $49,770.
• An ordinance to execute a contract with Allied Systems Inc. for $9,000 worth of repairs to a 70 horsepower pump at the sanitary sewer system’s southwest lift station. The pump, taken offline following a seal failure, is the same machine damaged by a faulty electrical panel three weeks ago.
