FORT SMITH: Sanitation chief seeks to add areas

He asks board for OK to bid on trash pickup in Van Buren

By Dave Hughes

Posted: July 29, 2009 at 5:33 a.m.

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FORT SMITH — City directors are expected to vote next week on whether to allow the city's Sanitation Department to bid on taking over residential trash collection in Van Buren.

Having control over Van Buren's trash collections will give the Sanitation Department a more stable revenue stream at the city-owned landfill, sanitation Director Baridi Nkokheli told directors.

The change would allow Fort Smith to divert recyclables that now may be mixed with trash and dumped in the landfill. The diversion would increase the landfill's lifespan, Nkokheli said. The more stable revenue stream also could delay the need to increase sanitation rates for Fort Smith trash customers, he said.

Deputy City Administrator Ray Gosack said Van Buren requested a proposal from Fort Smith because officials there realized Fort Smith knew how to run a successful curbside recycling program.

Fort Smith is one of eight entities that attended a pre-bid conference last week in Van Buren, said Gary Smith, director of Van Buren Municipal Utilities, which oversees operation of the city's water, sewer and sanitation services.

Smith said Tuesday the six year contract for Van Buren's current residential trash hauler, Friendly Sanitation Service of Van Buren, expires at the end of the year. City officials were looking for a better deal.

"The best bang for the buck is what we're after," Smith said.

Smith said those who attended the pre-bid conference would be the only companies allowedto submit bids. They were Fort Smith Sanitation Department, Friendly Sanitation Service, Altes Sanitation Service of Fort Smith, IESI Solid Waste Services of Dallas, River Valley Waste Removal of Alma, Waste Management of Houston, Red River Services Corp. of Austin, Texas, and Roll Off Services of Springdale.

Bids for the contract are due Aug. 5. The company awarded the six-year contract would begin work Jan. 1.

Nkokheli told city directors the Sanitation Department could take on Van Buren's 6,950 residential trash customers without adding equipment or employees. The contract would increase Fort Smith sanitation's customer base, now at 21,000, by one third.

The department has two rear-loading trash trucks it was going to sell, he said. With those two trucks, plus two drivers and four workers, he said Fort Smith could provide the service Van Buren needs.

The contract would require the contractor to provide weekly curbside trash collection and twice monthly recyclable collections. The contract also includes a call-in service to pick up bulky items and a semiannual citywide cleanup drive.

The contractor also would have to open an office in Van Buren and make available a recyclable drop-off location.

Some city directors expressed support for the idea because of the additional revenue it would generate.

But City Director Bill Maddox was skeptical. He said he could not see how Fort Smith could take on trash collection for Van Buren and not need more equipment and manpower.

"If we can service the city of Van Buren now, it looks likewe have too much equipment and too many people," he said. "We need to concentrate on Fort Smith residents before we stretch outside our boundaries."

Besides wanting to take on Van Buren trash collections, Nkokheli wants to add 4,700 new customers in south Fort Smith, he told directors. Altes Sanitation Service's collection contract for that area expires July 1, 2010.

Nkokheli did not ask the directors for immediate action on the south Fort Smith proposal.

The additional customers would increase the city's revenue and further stabilize the stream of trash that is taken to Fort Smith's landfill, he said. He said he would ultimately like to take over trash collection for all the entities that use the FortSmith regional landfill.

The south Fort Smith customers would be serviced with the automatic trash collection trucks that have been introduced to some areas of the city. The automatic trucks have mechanical arms controlled by the driver that can pick up and dump the trash.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11, 13 on 07/29/2009

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