MDI wins Dale garbage collection bid

Mark Dunning Industries was awarded the Dale County garbage collection contract at the Dale County Commission meeting Oct. 8.

MDI’s bid of $12.50 per container was the low bid. The other bidders were Arrow from Abbeville for a bid price of $12.95 per container and Amwaste from Mobile with a bid price of $12.71 per container.

MDI has been the Dale County garbage pickup provider for Dale County since the county decided to privatize the contract in 2013.

The existing contract was rebid after Dale County Commission Chairman Mark Blankenship told commissioners April 23 that MDI had asked to renegotiate the contract they have held with the county since December 2013.

Blankenship said that if there are material changes in the existing contract, it is required by law that the contract be rebid. He said that he had received confirmation of that legal requirement from the Association of County Commissions of Alabama.

Dale County Attorney Henry Steagall confirmed that the contract would have to be rebid if there were changes to be made to the existing contract. “If you don’t have any material changes the contract just rolls over but if there are any material changes it’s got to be bid,” Steagall said.

MDI began distributing the 95-gallon rollout garbage carts in Dale County in December 2014 and began weekly household garbage pickup services in February 2014 to those in the Dale County Solid Waste service area to include the city of Level Plains and the town of Clayhatchee. The city of Daleville has a separate garbage pickup service provider.

The next meeting of the Dale County Commission is Oct. 22 in the Dale County Government Building in Ozark. A work session begins at 10 a.m. and is followed immediately by a voting meeting. Both meetings are open to the public.