Much trash talking was going on, but no taunting penalties resulted — just a decision by Mount Airy officials to buy a second grapple truck to aid sanitation collections while scrapping an earlier proposal for brush carts.
Shirley Brinkley, a former city commissioner, also weighed in on a new automated garbage system that is part of this mix during a meeting last Thursday night.
All those developments occurred after an update by Public Works Director Mitch Williams to the city council on the automated system implemented earlier this year, which the council had requested after the system got up and running.
Williams said it is working well overall, including meeting one goal of reducing personnel costs through the acquisition of two side-loading automated garbage trucks at a total cost of $760,000.
This allows the emptying of trash carts to be controlled inside the cab, rather than by workers on the outside who faced dangers filling trucks from the rear under the old method.
“We’re down to 11 from 15,” Williams said of the number of employees in the sanitation division, which has occurred due to attrition with turnover in the department.
This is saving about $150,000 per year in personnel costs, he added.
Brush carts nixed
Last January’s decision by city officials to buy the automated trucks was accompanied by another proposal to provide 4,500 brush carts — costing $270,000…
