CITY TRASH COLLECTION SERVICE GETS NEW REVIEW

The Cape Girardeau City Council voted Monday to rehash the debate over putting the city's residential trash-collection service out for bids.

The council voted 6-1 in favor of a motion by Councilman Doug Richards to place the matter on the May 20 agenda for discussion. Councilman Al Spradling voted against the motion.

The vote came after extended debate on the subject, which has been revisited several times when representatives of BFI Inc., a private trash hauler that handles about a third of the city's commercial accounts, urged the council to bid its residential trash-collection service.

At a council meeting in October, Ed Schmalzried of BFI told the council that the trash company could provide the city's residents with increased service at a lower cost. He also said BFI could include recycling pickup in its services.

At Monday's meeting the council considered whether to adopt a waste-management plan that would bring the city in compliance with a new state landfill law.

But during discussion of the plan, Richards said he didn't want to go forward with a city plan without first discussing the merits of bidding out the city's trash service to private companies. He said the council in October requested that the item be placed on an agenda for a meeting in January or February.

"I'm just real concerned that we were going to discuss it in January and February, and I see here we're moving ahead," Richards said. "We should at least look at this and get all the information we can or I'm not going to feel comfortable with going forward on a waste-management plan."

Richards said he felt obligated to Cape Girardeau residents to see if BFI could offer quality trash service for less taxpayer dollars.

"I have an obligation to the citizens of Cape Girardeau to get the best trash-hauling service the city can get," he said. "We need to at least consider it and discuss it."

Councilmen David Barklage and David Limbaugh said the issue has been discussed in depth on previous occasions before Richards was elected to the council last year.

Limbaugh said there are many factors other than cost that must be considered before bidding trash service. He said the options have been considered "ad nauseam" in the past but could be discussed again.

Limbaugh said the trash service is an essential city service that can be left to a single contractor with a local monopoly. He said if the company should fail to comply with its contract the city might not be able to readily resume city service.

But Richards said, "That's what you have a city attorney for, and that's what you have a contract for."

In other business, the council voted 4-3 to approve a $7,000 Convention and Visitors Bureau expenditure to go toward a mural on the Mississippi River floodwall. The Convention and Visitors Advisory Board recommended the city spend the money from the tourism and economic development sales-tax fund.

Council members Hugh White, Barklage, Limbaugh and Mary Wulfers voted in favor of the expenditure while Richards, Al Spradling III and Mayor Gene Rhodes voted against it.

Rhodes said he questioned whether the expenditure justified the mural, which he didn't think would be much of a tourist attraction. "I just have a problem with it myself," he said. "I don't think it's worth it to spend the taxpayers' money on it."

But White said he thought the mural would provide an attraction for visitors already in the city to go to the riverfront and downtown area.

"Is it possible to even go downtown and not be drawn through the floodgates to look at the river from a visitor's standpoint?" White asked.

In a related matter, the city approved a resolution authorizing an agreement with the Downtown Special Business District and the Greater Downtown Merchants Association for a multipurpose display pavilion on a city-owned parking lot on South Main Street.

The concept of the pavilion project was approved by the council in 1984. The two downtown organizations now have funds available to construct the pavilion but needed council approval. The project will not require city funds.

The structure will essentially be similar to a park shelter: a roof without walls. The pavilion could be used for art displays, car shows, farmers' markets and other Greater Downtown Merchants Association promotions.

When the association is not using the facility, it would be available for public use.

The 72-foot-by-20-foot pavilion will cost $30,000 to $40,000 and could be built within 60 days.