By By Sheila Blackmon/The Meridian Star
Dec. 6, 2000
DECATUR Newton County supervisors hope to purchase an 18-wheeler this month that could help establish new garbage routes early next year.
They are considering two bids, said Board President Jimmy Johnson. The first, for a used 18-wheeler tractor trailer with 350,000 miles, is $27,000. The second bid, $54,000, is for a new one. Supervisors will discuss other options at a work session Thursday and are planning a trip to Jackson to look at other used trucks.
Supervisors canceled a contract with Waste Management for transporting waste from a Class B rubbish site on Landfill Road, just off Turkey Creek Road in the west end of the county, to the landfill they use in Lake. The contract ends at the first of the year, Johnson said.
County garbage trucks with boxed-in bodies designed to carry loose rubbish are forced to make several trips since loose garbage takes up more room than compacted garbage. The box trucks collect garbage door-to-door then transport it to the Waste Management truck at the rubbish site to be compacted and taken to Lake.
Each route will start at the landfill. Three trucks will run on four routes over a four-day period. The fifth day will be set aside for maintenance and repairs of trucks and equipment. Residents' garbage will be picked up once a week.
Johnson said he doesn't anticipate equipment purchases to increase residents' monthly $7 garbage fee because county garbage funds are supplemented by rubbish-site tippage fees paid by La-Z-Boy, the city of Newton and Esco.
Sheila Blackmon is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail her at sblackmon@meridianstar.com.