By Nathan Prewett, For the Tribune
PINSON – The top three winners of the City of Pinson’s Christmas Parade floats were awarded during a meeting of the city council on Thursday, Jan. 4.
The parade was held on Dec. 6. The winners were awarded money that was donated by community members.
In first place was Bradford Sanctuary of Praise, which was awarded $100. In second place was Kermit Johnson Elementary School. The check for $75 was accepted by Principal Brandi Wilson. And in third place was Girl Scouts Troop 25007, also awarded $75.
“We really appreciate the hard work y’all put in on those floats,” said Mayor Pro Tem Robbie Roberts. “We got a lot of positive feedback this year. We really enjoy doing the event.”
During the regular meeting, the council again discussed requests for proposals or RFPs for a potential change in garbage services. Roberts said that he and Operations Director Eric Winfrey have continued gathering information on all of the available options.
He brought up the possibility of bringing garbage services in-house or in other words making them part of the city. Among the advantages is that the city would have better control of customer services and that a city garbage department would save on costs.
Winfrey advised that the council should not attempt to create its own garbage service this year due to the long process of working out billing, manpower and equipment.
“I do believe it’s something that we should look at,” he said. “That we should measure our options and make sure that we’re doing the right thing for the city because it’s intriguing.”
A decision to either bid it out or renew the current contract with Waste Management will need to be made relatively soon. Mayor Joe Cochran asked if it would be possible to agree to a one-year extension, to which Roberts said that it would be good.
“Because in that way it would allow us to be able to immediately move forward on the placing of the order for the truck, or trucks, depending on what we want to do,” he said. “And buying the cans and all that stuff that needs to take place, implementing the billing procedure or the funding mechanism that we want to go with.”
It was also suggested that a Five Mill tax could be implemented on properties to pay for services. The amount that this may raise will be studied and determined, the council decided. Roberts said that if services are in-house, they may not be able to continue recycling but they may be able to establish a central drop-off point.
The last item on the agenda was a discussion on a city-owned house that stands on a land that the city acquired several years prior and adjoins the Bicentennial Park and is located behind the maintenance building. Roberts said that the land is valuable and that the city had been renting out the house to citizens to pay for the land over a 10-year period.
However, more money was needed to improve the house and so an income is needed to pay for the land over closer to a 15-year period.
No one currently occupies the house but it had previously been rented out for $750 per month. The city has had to perform maintenance on the property for some months now. An individual is now interested in renting it.
Roberts asked if the council desired to continue renting out to the public. Council members Glenda Kirkland and Brad Walker said that they did not like the idea of a government leasing property but Walker said that they still need to maintain the building. A possibility was suggested that a third-party leasing company could be brought in to rent the property out. A new rate and changes to the lease agreement may be needed. The matter will be reviewed more in the future, the council decided.
In other business, the council:
- Discussed providing porta potties for future Trade Days events and determined to make an announcement at the next meeting based on the costs.
Pinson City Council meets on the first and third Thursdays of every month at City Hall on 4410 Main Street. Live-streamed meetings can be seen on the city’s Facebook page.
Nathan Prewett can be reached at nthomasp6@gmail.com.