Roanoke buys 2,800 garbage cans

The City of Roanoke took another step Monday in its efforts to take over the city’s residential garbage collection duties.

The Roanoke City Council voted 5-0-1 (with councilmember Tammi Holley abstaining) to spend over $190,000 to purchase 2,800 residential trash bins from Ingram Equipment Company.

Roanoke currently has about 2,400 residential trash collection points, but city purchasing agent Tim Jacobs explained to the council at Monday’s meeting that the bins are delivered by the truckload, with 936 bins per load. That means that the city would need to buy three truckloads in order to meet the 2,400 required to satisfy the city’s needs. Jacobs said the extra 400 bins shouldn’t be considered excessive, however, as replacement bins are always needed.

The bins will take a minimum of 60 days to arrive in Roanoke once the order is placed. That wait time meant that the council had to act Monday if the city was going to be assured of receiving the bins on time. Roanoke is currently under contract with Amwaste for its garbage collection services, but that contract expires on March 31 of 2023.

Roanoke has already purchased two garbage trucks that it will use once the city takes over collection.

Once the new trash bins arrive, Ingram will assemble and distribute them.

While the city is taking over residential collection services, collection for commercial dumpsters will have to be bid out when Amwaste’s contract expires in March.

In other business at Monday’s meeting, the Roanoke City Council:

• Appointed Drew Phillips as Roanoke’s representative on a newly formed board for the Randolph County Ag and Equine Center in Wedowee.
• Learned that resurfacing work has begun at the Roanoke airport, but that work has been delayed due to the weather. City clerk Amanda Davis told the council that work cannot proceed until the weather warms.
• Learned that the contract for housing the city’s inmates at the county jail is in the hands of city attorney Clay Tinney and is awaiting his approval. The contract was approved by the Randolph County Commission last week.
• Heard from police chief Jonathan Caldwell, who announced that the Roanoke Police Department will be conducting traffic and safety checkpoints at various times throughout the city during the holiday season.