Trash talk

City Council votes to get out of the garbage business

RANDOLPH — The city of Randolph will no longer be in the garbage business by the end of summer.

The Randolph City Council voted Wednesday to contract with S2 Roll-offs and Refuse, Fremont, to take over the city’s commercial and residential trash and recycling routes.

Currently, city crews provide the weekly garbage pickup and the city bills for the service.

S2 can bill the city for its services and then the city in turn can bill its residents, or S2 can handle all of the billing.

The transition will begin Aug. 1, to hopefully leave enough time for residents to set up an account with the company.

The company already services area communities of Laurel, Wayne, Norfolk and Pender, among others.

Even though the city is getting out of the garbage business, the Council opted to keep its garbage truck, rather than sell it. The truck will be used for the city-owned buildings, such as the auditorium, Council members said.

Company representatives said in April they would be open to purchasing the city’s equipment and dumpsters as part of the transition.

Also Wednesday, Janelle Bierbaum, representing the flower project fund, requested the council budget for new flowerpots.

“I think it’s important to help keep the beautification of our community an ongoing process,” said Bierbaum.

According to Bierbaum’s observations, the city has 33 pots showing a lot of wear and tear. Her minimal research estimated the cost to replace the pots to be between $4,000-$5,000.

Bierbaum also said new lightpost banners for the 4th of July have been purchased.

Along with the beautification of the town, the council has decided to start budgeting for repairs to intersections.

Council members said they wanted to focus on the intersections of Main and Wayne streets and Wayne and Douglas streets first.

The council also agreed, Wednesday, to make repairs of the golf course, well after it was struck by lightning. The repair was already purchased and applied, but the council still had to review it. With insurance assistance, the bill went from $12,000 to $4,680.

Council members also learned the auditorium ice machine needs to be fixed again, after already spending $4,000 on repairs, said City Treasurer and deputy clerk Josh Rayford.

Rayford said each visit is about $500. The board decided to look into potential donors before deciding on a path for the ice machine.

The council approved two temporary outdoor liquor licenses for the bars, Mrs. Bubba’s, and Pub and Grub. They will be permitted to serve alcohol at the city fair’s street dances July 12.

Pool repairs were a concern for the council as they described the status of the pool as “day to day.” They said people have been visiting nearby pools to see possible upgrades for upcoming years.

Finally, the city updated its dog ordinance, making it extremely similar to Hartington’s ordinance.

The board also approved the sale of three city-owned properties.