Nearly 20 minutes of the Tuesday night City Board of Aldermen meeting was spent discussing garbage cans.
The city will be taking over collection from Waste Pro beginning Oct. 1, and the board is in discussion whether to purchase the existing cans from Waste Pro or buy new ones.
“Waste Pro offered to sell their cans for $33 a can,” Mayor Justin McKenzie said.
The discussion also included whether to even buy cans.
“There is something to be said about consistency, especially in town,” Alderman Jason Stringer added.
The city also discussed whether it should buy the cans for the residents or should residents purchase the cans from the city.
Nothing was decided, but it was a subject to be further discussed at the next meeting on July 2.
Waste Pro’s contract expires Sept. 30, and the city ordered a new garbage truck in May for $154,000. Marion County took back over its garbage service from Waste Pro last year, and the Board of Supervisors has reported it has worked out well. Residents in Marion County provide their own trash cans.
In other business, Building Inspector, Carrie Thornhill reported the following locations have been cleaned since the last meeting:
• 913 Askew Street;
• 408 Chinaberry Ave.;
• 410 Chinaberry Ave.;
• 1915 Ridgewood Drive.
No action was taken on 412 Chinaberry Ave., 616 Foreman St. and 411 Nathan St. as each of these are in the process of being cleaned, and no action was taken on 413 and 415 Chinaberry Ave.
A resolution was passed for the demolition of the burned home at 1216 Martin Luther King Drive.
Thornhill requested hearings for mowing and cleaning of the following properties:
• 704 Albert Ave.;
• 709 Alberta Ave.;
• 1102 Carolyn Ave.;
• 1108 Carolyn Ave.;
• 1110 Carolyn Ave.;
• 517 Church St.;
• 906 Church St.;
• 1010 Gill St.;
• 811 N. Park Ave.;
• 414 Owens St.;
• 418 Owens St.;
• 406 Short Owens St.
Pictured Above: Waste Pro crews dump a trash can on Park Avenue June 10. The company’s contract for garbage service in Columbia ends Sept. 30, and the city is making plans to take over service itself. | Photo by Charlie Smith
