Sheldon City Council Talks Trash

Sheldon, Iowa — Garbage…..that’s the topic that took up most of the time at Wednesday’s Sheldon City Council meeting. The contract between the City and the two garbage haulers expires soon, so the council took the opportunity to hold a wide-ranging conversation addressing a wide range of concerns. The ordinance governing garbage handling is nine years old. The price charged for garbage pickup is based on each resident having no more than one 65 gallon, or no more than two 32 gallon containers. The ordinance states, “All additional containers,piles, etc, placed for collection will be charged an additional fee by the private hauler who will use their discretion in assessing additional charges”. Recently Schwarz Sanitary Service began following this practice which has produced angry comments from some customers.

Both Schwarz Sanitary and De Kruif Sanitation now have an increasing number of custumers using the new large containers that are mechanically lifted to their trucks. This would cost about 42 dollars each if puchased in large numbers by the City. The haulers said they would underwrite the cost of the containers, if the City would recover that money for them by adding a few dollars to the garbage bills. The City hopes to have a proposed new ordinance at their next Council meeting.

In other business, the council approved wages of $30,000 per year for Heather Jacob of Orange City who will be the Crossroads Pavilion Assistant Manager. They also approved an additional $2,000 per month to Public Works Director Todd Uhl and City Clerk Angela Beckman for the extra duties they will perform in the absence of a City Manager. Uhl will also handle the Zoning Administrator duties during this time.

The Council also voted to talk to Callahan Municipal Consultants of Anamosa about handling the search for city manager candidates. This firm was highly recommended by the League of Municipalities.

And on the topic of parking on city streets, the council voted in favor of banning parking at all times on the North side of East 6th from 19th to 23rd Avenue. They also will vote on downtown parking restrictions at their next meeting. These restrictions will be close to those now in effect with some updates.

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