Despite price hike, city approves BCS contract

Jun. 16—OTTUMWA — A long and winding road finally came to an end Tuesday night, as the Ottumwa City Council formally approved a new 10-year trash-collection contract with Bridge City Sanitation.

Yet, it came with a twist.

Residents discovered they will pay $18.70 per household per month for trash collection services starting July 1, an increase of $1.50, which director of community development Zach Simonson announced in an ordinance change on an agenda item shortly before the vote. Starting July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023, the rate will be $19.18.

There wasn't a long discussion regarding the contract, which passed 3-1, with councilman Skip Stevens was absent. The same council members — Marc Roe, Holly Berg and Bob Meyers — approved both the awarding of the contract in October and the actual contract. Councilman Matt Dalbey voted against Bridge City's service, as he'd done all along.

Bridge City Sanitation has been maligned over the past several months for inconsistent service, and social media posts from residents showed continued complaints. But after two meetings in the fall and a public forum, the council decided to continue its service with the company over Urbandale-based Sparta Waste Services.

However, the city has imposed tougher measures in the revised contract, such as requiring a monthly call and email log of issues that must be submitted to the city, and having a staff member answering all calls during business hours.

City Administrator Philip Rath said it was important that, when issues arise, they are addressed promptly.

"This is a service that tends to have issues for a variety of reasons, so the first step is to contact Bridge City Sanitation, and one of the things in here is to have staff available to respond to those requests," he said. "If they are repeated things that aren't being resolved, then definitely we have staff to help assist with that.

"We'll be meeting more regularly with them to talk through these things when issues arise, and we can address those in a more timely basis and hopefully be able to resolve ongoing conflicts."

Meyers asked Rath if some of the discussions about education regarding what residents could set outside for collection would continue.

"It was my understanding that the city would work with them will try to inform the residents what the responsibilities are," he said.

"Some of the things we talked about was how we can make the process easier for both the resident, the vendor and the city, making sure people are doing things — that garbage is bagged property and put into the cans," Rath said. "If things are loose, they could fly out, especially on extremely windy days, and no one really wants to have that as a side effect.

"The contract also has an annual citywide cleanup, and we'll be working on how that's going to look," he said. "We have to get specifics on those, which will help with some of the bulky items as well."

In other business:

—The council, again on a 3-1 vote, voted to enter into a one-year agreement with Bird Rides to operate an e-scooter service in the city. The city is required to change two different ordinances of City Code to accommodate an e-scooter section.

Meyers was the lone dissenting vote of the resolution.

Simonson believed the contract for the service was tough but fair. No taxpayer money will fund the service, and the city has very little responsibility regarding the service.

"This agreement is pretty close to what our attorneys originally turned in," he said. "They said it was significantly more stringent than any other agreement they've had in Iowa, and that was what we were really leaning on. There was a back and forth, and I think it's a really strong agreement."

The agreement can be extended annually by mutual consent.

"I think we really did set good expectations, and we're going to be working diligently to see that they're enforced," Simonson said.

"One of the things the agreement references is that make sure they're in compliance with all the statutes, ordinances and regulations we have, and if things were to come up as we go, that the council could look at the ordinance as needed," Rath said. "We'd be able to potentially make changes within the code."

Simonson sees increased popularity with e-scooters.

"We thought this would be an important thing to do because they're a growing phenomenon," he said. "In addition to offering the app-based service, they're not offering e-scooters for sale for private owners. I would expect we'll continue to see more of those sorts of things over time, and having the expectations for safe operation is going to be something that's beneficial to us."

— Chad Drury can be reached at cdrury@ottumwacourier.com, and on Twitter @ChadDrury