JACKSON CENTER — The Jackson Center Village Council met on Oct. 12 to discuss waste service options.
Village Administrator Bruce Metz explained that at the end of 2016, the villages 5-year contract with their current waste service provider will expire and the contract price per bag will jump up to $2.14 per bag for disposal. With this increase in the contract amount, the cost of the bag we will be over the villages $2.35 they currently charge now a bag so they are going to have to raise prices or research some different options. Metz then introduced Terry Thompson of Republic Waste Services.
Thompson informed council that he is the Area Manager for Republic Waste Services and he covers 35 counties in Ohio and will discuss three items.
Carting the Recycling: Most communities are transitioning to this type of recycling. The customer would receive a cart that will be about four and a half times larger than the current bins and the proposed container contains a lid to eliminate items blowing out and eliminates much of the litter. The containers would be picked up every other week instead of every week cutting down truck traffic on the streets and the trucks would be out of the city two days of the month. The container will hold four times the material than the 18-gallon bins. Based on the criteria of the Solid Waste District many times they award grant money to communities based on the recycling participation rates as well as the tonnages that are pulled out and the trash volume reduced. The amount the customer will recycle will increase when transitioning from an eighteen-gallon bin to a sixty-five gallon cart. Recycling amounts could increase as much as 65 percent in many cases. The carts are much easier to move as well.
Tag Program for bags: Many communities are getting away from selling bags and going to a tag program. The tags are sold with five tags on a sheet and people will buy their own bags and wrap the tag around the tie part of their bag and that is what pays for the service so you get out of the bag program. The tags will save about $5,000 a year by not buying bags but buying tags. The tags cost about 3 cents each and the bags cost about 22 cents each. The sales would remain the same; the storage space needed would be minimal. The size of the bag used would be a 33-gallon bag, which is the same size as the town bags currently are.
Contract: Republic is interested in extending the contract with the Village.
This will be discussed further after more research.
The council adopted an ordiance authorizing the transfer of $1,000 in appropriations within the Income Tax Revenue Fund and the increase of appropriations within the Income Tax Revenue Fund in the amount of $179,000. The reason for the transfer and increase in appropriations is so that we can continue to pay the retainer expenditure and continue to transfer the income tax distributions to Capital Improvement, General Improvement and Note Retirement. We will be receiving more revenue than anticipated for the year.
Fiscal Officer Bev Wren reported that the income tax revenue to date is more than they anticipated and this allows them to increase appropriations so that they can continue to transfer the revenue as they have been.
Ethan Welch of Jauert and Burton Attorneys, explained the changes that House Bill 5 is making to the Municipal Income Tax Ordinance. Council members were sent a red line version of the amendment for their review. A working copy will be forwarded to the Regional Income Tax Agency as well. Welch stated that this will have very little impact on the Village of Jackson Center’s income tax collections. Welch went on to say that House Bill 5 makes municipal income tax more uniform across the State of Ohio. It will be presented at the next council meeting as a first reading and they plan on doing the second and third readings in November with passage on Nov. 30.
Metz reported most of the paving is complete and they are doing the cross walks and they have some manholes to cut out and bring back up to road level. There is also a couple water boxes that need fixed.
Metz also reported the purchase of a 2007 Elgin NP Pelican, a street sweeper, rebuilt and repainted for $78,500. Metz will sign a lease with Lacal for $1,000 a month through the rest of the year and then the $1,000 per month will be taken off the purchase price when the sweeper is purchased in January 2016.
Police Chief Joe Cotterman reported he and Hiro, the police dog, did a demo for for the Junior American Club and that he and Hiro go to the school every other day or so.
