THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 20, 1994 TAG: 9412200335
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
After an hour of debate, the City Council on Monday began the process of farming out recycling chores to a private collector.
Mayor H. Rick Gardner's yes vote broke a 3-3 tie in which council members W.L. ``Pete'' Hooker, Jimi Sutton and David Bosomworth voted to approve an agreement to contract recycling, and Lloyd Griffin, A.C. Robinson Jr. and Anita Hummer voted against the measure.
Council members Myrtle Rivers and Dorothy Stallings were absent.
The council must still approve the amendment to its contract with commercial garbage collector Waste Industries Inc. in a second vote at its Jan. 9 meeting.
Under the agreement, Waste Industries would take up residential recycling duties beginning March 1, when penalties go into effect for breaking the ban on sending recyclables to the regional landfill.
Hooker proposed that the company lease the city's recycling truck for $1,200 a month, $200 more than the agreement city officials had worked out with the company. But City Manager Ralph Clark said he thought Waste Industries would go along with the higher lease price.
Griffin, the most outspoken opponent of the agreement, said he objected to the city paying to have its recyclables removed while also likely missing out on profits from the sale of the material.
He proposed keeping the city in the business by expanding the hours the city uses the truck - the vehicle currently serves fewer than half the city's 5,600 households - and setting up a sorting station.
Proponents of the agreement said expanding business to serve all city residents would be too costly and could not be done before March.
Gardner recommended that the city go with the agreement through early 1996 and in the meantime find a consultant to advise officials on the best way to handle their recyclables in the future.
``It now becomes the responsibility of this council to move forward vigorously with the necessary studies,'' Gardner said after casting the deciding vote.
Also Monday, the council passed a resolution expressing opposition to a proposed state plan to charge fees for public trust waters, which would add expense for marina operators and, Gardner said, hamper waterfront development. by CNB