Commission buys trucks to update garbage pickup
Morgan County commissioners voted Tuesday to purchase five automated garbage trucks at a cost of $1,159,755 in a major move to provide automated garbage pickup service for residents of Morgan County not being served by the cities of Hartselle and Decatur.
Automated pickup is expected to replace manually-operated service in the municipalities of Falkville, Priceville, Somerville, Eva and Trinity early next year and throughout other rural areas of the county by mid-year, according to Ricky Brooks, manager of Morgan County Environmental Services.
The trucks will be provided by Ingram Equipment Co. of Pelham, one of only two bidders. Nextran submitted a bid of $1,169.405.
“I’m pleased with the low bid,” said Brooks. “It meets all specs and I recommend its approval.
On the recommendation of District 2 Commissioner Randy Vest, the governing body agreed to purchase the trucks on a lease-purchase agreement with the first payment not coming due until one year after the purchase.
Brooks said automated pickup would greatly enhance the safety of his department’s operations as well as providing a cleaner and more efficient service for its customers.
In another matter, the commission authorized the chairman to execute an agreement with the State Department of Transportation for the installation of guardrails on Union Hill Road. The project will cost $146,800 with the county picking up $14,686 of the total costs.
District 4 Commissioner Greg Abercrombie said the guardrails would enhance the safety of the mountainside road. He pointed out that a fatality occurred on the road a year ago.
The commission acted on other matters as follows:
• Authorized the chairman to advertise for bids on the following items: 13,700 carts for Environmental Services to be used for automated garbage pickup service for Morgan County Residents; hosting of email solution for Morgan County; hosting offsite backup for Morgan County; and phone service for Morgan County.
• Approved payment of $60 to the County Revenue Officers Association of Alabama for membership dues for Ed Sims, Michelle Echols, Mark Palmer, Rosa Segars, Courtney Rae and Johnny Howell of the Morgan County Sales Tax Department.
• Approved payment of $165 to Trident Insurance Services for legal services pertaining to a claim filed against the Morgan County Commission by Mauris Lavern Thomason.
• Accepted an application from Bell Primitive Baptist Church to establish a private cemetery on Finley Island Road in District 3, and authorized the county engineer to request a sanitary review by the Alabama Department of Public Health.
• Approved a resolution accepting a petition to vacate Johns Drive located in District 3 off of East State Crusher Road and set a public hearing for Dec. 13, 2011, at 9 a.m.
• Approved a resolution accepting a petition to vacate the western five feet of the 5-ft. DU&T easement shown in Lot 6, “A re-plat of Cedar Crest Subdivision, Phase 1” plat of record in the office of the Probate Judge of Morgan County sub-plat Book 2010, at page 20, located in District 3 off of Cedar Lane Road, and set a public hearing for Dec. 13, 2011, at 9 a.m.
• Declared as surplus property a 1999 Kawasaki Mule and a 1988 Freedom Living mobile home, authorized them to be offered for sale on govedeals.com and return the proceeds to West Park in District 2.
• Approved the following certificates to subdivide and/or consolidate: Orlean D. Summerford, Hwy 36, District 2; Shelby Weaver, Evans Dr., Ronald N. and JoAnn Prater Steel, Hwy 55, West, Danville Rd, and Vicky Flack and Dotson Family Farms Inc, Burt Stinson Rd., all in District 3; and James T. and Deborah P. Owen, Six Mile Rd. and Day Estates, Day Rd. Union Hill Road, all in District 4.
• Authorized payment of $42,018.12 to Water Brothers Construction for work performed on the courthouse parking lot in Oct. 2011, payable out of the Capital Improvement Fund.
•Approved payment of $1,340 to Hartselle Utilities for a water meter installation at the Morgan County Park & Rec. Building.
•Authorized the chairman to execute an agreement with Coast2Coast County Marketing, with Financial Marketing Concepts, for a discount prescription card for residents of Morgan County at no cost to the county.
•Approved payment of $150 to Alabama Mountain Lakes Association for membership dues for Morgan County for the period Nov. 2011 through Oct. 2012.
• Approved advanced travel of $800 for Rita Weeks of the Emergency Management Agency to attend the International Association of Emergency Managers Conference in Las Vegas, Nev. Nov. 11-18, 2-11.
• Authorized the chairman to execute a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Homeland Security and Morgan County regarding Morgan County’s participation in the Employment Eligibility Verification Program (E-Verify).
• Authorized District 2 Commissioner Randy Vest to fill the vacant position of operator II for the District 3 shop.