WARSAW — The awarding bids for picking up recycling in Warsaw was tabled again during the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting Friday, Sept. 18. The bids were opened on Sept. 4 and taken under advisement for further review. On the agenda to award the bids, Mayor Joe Thallemer asked the bids be tabled.
Thallemer stated he wanted to go over the bids with the Curbside Waste Task Force next week. “There is substantial savings by taking the recycling containers out of the alleyways to the streets. I want to look deeper into the impact and get a recommendation from them.”
The task force, according to Thallemer, consists of citizens from each district in the city and an at-large representative, including county councilman and BOW member Jeff Grose, among others. “We need to try to move the waste containers to the road for many reasons, but need to try to do what is best for the community.” Thallemer also stated the decision may not benefit every resident.
Grose questioned if the city could do the pickup in-house. Thallemer noted the recycling contract came up for renewal and the the city is not yet prepared to take on that task, until seeing how the new trash pick up equipment works.
A representative from Borden was present and stated their bid is pliable over the two-year contract, that should the city decide to change its locations for pickup, the price could be changed.
Really A Savings?
During other business, two departments submitted agreements for switching to fiber. Charles Smith, board member, questioned if this was truly a savings, based on the costs he was seeing. It was noted by Thallemer the build-out costs are spread over a five-year period. Jeremy Skinner, city planner, further explained the build-out costs for each department has been pro-rated based on the number of telephones and number using the service in each department.
He stated a department with eight telephones will pay higher than those with one or three phones. Skinner additionally pointed out the costs savings will be in the long term while some departments will notice immediate cost savings. Presently, each department may have its own server, where once the switch is made there will be one central server. Other advantages were also noted.
Skinner and Thallemer also stated in some instances the monthly fees will be reduced during the first five years, should other businesses sign up for the fiber optic services.
The park department had presented an agreement for a monthly cost of $831.60 for three sites, with a set up and installation cost of $1,050, while Skinner had presented an agreement totaling $2,300 per month for seven departments and a set up and installation cost of $3,600 for the seven locations.