Sparta Gathering Info For Negotiations

Sparta officials gathering information about the city’s garbage for the next stage of negotiations with Waste Management.

Mayor Jerry Lowery said he recently met with Waste Management to discuss the company’s prices and how they will be working with the city. Lowery said their fees range from sixty-one to sixty-five dollars per ton depending on the kind of trash.

“So what’s happening right now, we’re taking the numbers and we’re looking at, we’re gathering data as we speak and how much tonnage we’re taking down there,” Lowery said. “What’s it going to cost us and then that’s what we’re doing as we speak, right now. We’ve just not settled that number in yet.”

Lowery said the city still does not have a complete pricing plan for all of Waste Management’s different services. Lowery said city officials will have a work session to consider their options once they receive more details.

“We’ll look at their numbers and look at our numbers and then we can hopefully reach an agreement, meet back with them,” Lowery said. “But I’ve got to meet with the alderman first and express to them what’s going on.”

Lowery said Waste Management needs some of Sparta’s facilities for its operations but the exact details have yet to be decided upon. Lowery said he does not expect the results of the negotiation to impact the citizens in any more ways than what has already been changed.

“We’ve already stopped taking couches and, you know, say you had an old couch, you put it out in the yard in the front out by the road,” Lowery said. “In the past, the city of Sparta would pick that up and deposit that at the landfill for you. We have just passed a resolution that that’s going to stop.”