By Terry Schrimscher For The Tribune
SPRINGVILLE — The Springville City Council met for the first regular meeting of 2022 on Tuesday night, January 4, with a resolution awarding a garbage contract as the primary agenda item.
Brian Stephens of EcoSouth Services spoke to the council in the work session prior to the meeting to address some lingering concerns over debris collection in the city.
“Staying caught up is the easy part. It’s getting caught up that’s the hard part,” Stephens said. “We should have already been caught up, but the holidays kind of threw us behind.”
Garbage service has been a sore spot with residents for months. Springville endured long garbage and debris collection delays through much of 2021, which prompted city leaders to rebid contracts in July of 2021. The city extended the existing contract with Waste Management through September 1 but did not receive bids from any other vendors.
In November, the Council approved a temporary contract with EcoSouth Services to serve through the end of February 2022 while the city collected bids for a new three-year contract.
EcoSouth, which recently won bids to provide service to Leeds and Argo in St. Clair County, was the only vendor responding to the request for new bids to begin service in March of 2022.
Stephens estimates debris pickup could be back on schedule by the end of January.
“That’s the reason we’re working every Saturday from now until, I’d say, at least the end of the month, and we should be caught up,” Stephens said.
The Council approved the new bid, which includes debris pickup, with a modest increase over rates in the current temporary contract.
In other business, the Council approved the appointment of Joseph “Joey” Breighner to the Planning and Zoning Board. Breighner serves as Vice President at Schoel Engineering in Birmingham.
To close the meeting, Mayor Dave Thomas announced he has qualified as a candidate for Governor of Alabama. Thomas is running as a Republican. He previously served as a Republican in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1994 to 2002.
Thomas told The Trussville Tribune he has gotten mostly positive feedback on his candidacy.
“The positives have outweighed the negatives 10-1, maybe 20-1,” he said. “So far, I’ve only gotten one piece of hate mail,” he added with a chuckle.
“I’m just not impressed with the slate of candidates,” Thomas told The Tribune. “Polls don’t decide, voters do. I just couldn’t sit on the sidelines anymore.