Commission talks trash, EMS money

The garbage collection contract and the tag tax distribution were discussed at the Dale County Commission meeting April 23.

Dale County Commission Chairman Mark Blankenship told commissioners that the current garbage pickup provider, Mark Dunning Industries, has asked to renegotiate the contract that 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

Blankenship said that there are some 90 days before the M.D.I. contract expires and that he and Dale County Engineer Derek Brewer are initiating the bid process.

“One thing we also have to do when we put it out for bids, we have to request that M.D.I. provide us a price on the trash cans because our existing contract says that at the end of the contract the trash cans become his,” Blankenship said adding that there are some 6,400 M.D.I. trash cans located throughout the county. “We’re months away from having to do this so we wanted to get started.”

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. “We can’t speak for other entities that don’t follow the law. That’s not what we go by. We follow the law.”

M.D.I. 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.

In unrelated business, Blankenship talked about distribution of the funds generated by the recently enacted Dale County tag tax earmarked to benefit emergency medical service providers in Dale County.

Dale County voters had approved assessment of a $5 tag fee increase earmarked for emergency services in a November 2018 countywide referendum.

In initial discussions about the tag tax, Blankenship noted that the Ozark EMS was the only paid EMS provider and there were five volunteer EMS services in the county. “The money generated will be used strictly for providing EMS service in Dale County,” Blankenship said at that time. “One of our many goals will be to use this money to put more paid staff in the volunteer EMS units in the county.”

Three percent of the proceeds from the $5 fee for each motor vehicle collected is retained by the Dale County Revenue Commissioner’s office to cover administrative costs and the remainder given to the Dale County Commission to be distributed to municipalities and emergency medical service organizations for EMS services.

“We’re trying to get the volunteer organizations in a position where we can get money to them so they can spend more time doing emergency medical service than they are fundraising,” Blankenship said preceding the countywide vote. Blankenship reiterated that statement at the April 23 commission meeting.

Blankenship said he has received tag tax grant applications from Ozark, Echo and Level Plains. Ozark has paid staff, Echo Volunteer Rescue has one paid person on staff and Level Plains contracts with the city of Enterprise for EMS services.

Blankenship said that he hopes that the city of Daleville will consider using the tag tax funds to hire at least one full time person for EMS services. “What brought this to my attention is that last week there was a funeral on Highway 84 in Daleville and at the graveside service, a gentleman collapsed,” Blankenship said. Daleville rescue was called but could not respond, Blankenship said, adding that Wicksburg rescue was able to respond but that it was more than an hour before they could get to the site. “They delayed the funeral an hour because they couldn’t get anybody to get there and pick this man up,” Blankenship said. “I think it would benefit us all for Daleville to put at least one full time paid staff person there.

In unrelated business, Blankenship told the commissioners that the meeting room at the government building that is used by both the Dale County Board of Education and the Dale County Commission for meetings is in need of renovation. Blankenship said that proposed upgrades include the flooring, lighting, and the commission/school board seating podium. “We want to reconfigure the cabinet so that it is winged out in a way that the commissioners or board members can better communicate with each other during the meeting,” Blankenship told the commissioners. “We’re just at the stage of getting some prices and we will get back to you.”

The next meeting of the Dale County Commission is May 14 at the Dale County Government Building. A work session begins at 10 a.m. and is followed by a voting meeting. Both meetings are open to the public.