The City of Monmouth has a new solid waste hauler.
Aldermen on Tuesday approved a seven-year contract with Lakeshore Recycling to take over the garbage and recycling collection in the Maple City.
City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher says that Lakeshore’s contract came in over 100-thousand dollars less than the second-best bid and because of the good prices negotiated with the city, refuse customers shouldn’t see rate increases any time soon.
“We are projecting that the city should be able to suspend any increase in the residential garbage collection fee on residents for about five years,” Steinbrecher told WGIL on Wednesday. “The prices were that good that we don’t think there [are] any additional costs that will need to be passed on in the monthly water and sewer bills under the solid waste collection fee.”
Steinbrecher also highlighted that Lakeshore has made a significant investment in the community with plans to open a customer service center in the former Alexander Lumber building.
Another aspect of the agreement that Steinbrecher highlighted was a change to the twice-a-year bulk cleanup days. The city would normally hold spring and fall cleanup weeks each year for large item collection.
With the new agreement, residents in the city will have one free bulk cleanup every month that just needs to be scheduled ahead of time.
“We’ll have protocols in place so that people can call in to reserve a special pickup like this, once a month. Now, you can get more than one but the second would be at a cost.”
The new agreement begins in May.
