With only four of five city commissioners present at the July 6 meeting, a motion to adopt a revised commercial rate schedule failed on a two-to-two vote (Commissioners Sue Colson and Scott Dennison in favor; Commissioners Gene Hodges and Pat O`Neal opposed), postponing until at least July 20 final action on the city`s new solid waste contract with WastePro. At Tuesday night`s meeting, Public Works Director Josh Wilson presented a staff recommendation designed to address concerns that even the lowest package available to commercial customers under the proposed agreement didn`t reflect the small amount of trash generated by a small store or office.
Under the currently proposed agreement, commercial customers must choose between two or three pickups per week. The lowest available rate is $37.50, for one trash cart with two pick ups a week. A commercial customer would be charged an additional $12.50 for recycling, bringing the monthly cost of the lowest-priced commercial option to $50.
The staff worked with WastePro to design a new small-business category under which a commercial customer may opt for once-a-week pick up. The proposed once-a-week pick up schedule would allow a $5 reduction in the monthly trash rate. In addition, WastePro has agreed to provide those smallest businesses residential-size recycling bins and once-a-week recycling pick up at no additional cost. Combined, these savings under the small-business category would reduce total monthly cost from $50 to $32.50. In the same recommendation, staff noted that the current proposed rate structure fails to provide the largest commercial cart customers a financial incentive to recycle. Accordingly, the staff`s recommendation increased by 9% to 21% proposed monthly rates for commercial customers who order three or more trash carts for twice-a-week pick up and for commercial customers who order two or more trash carts for three-times-a-week pick up.
Under both the current rate structure and the staff recommendation, commercial cart customers may reduce monthly trash cost by reducing solid waste output. Savings of approximately ten percent per cart are reflected in the current rate structure for commercial cart customers; under the new staff recommendation, savings could range from 12% to 23% for each cart eliminated. Following the failure of Commissioner Colson`s motion to adopt the staff recommendation, Commissioner Dennison made a further motion, which was adopted unanimously, to accept that portion of the staff recommendation creating the small-business category. In other business Tuesday night, the commissioners sat as the Local Planning Agency (LPA) and as the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). In their role as the LPA, the commissioners recommended a permit program for Cedar Key restaurants, which would allow dogs to accompany customers in outdoor seating areas. CRA Director Greg Lang provided updates to the commissioners at the brief CRA meeting that concluded the evening`s meetings.
Under the Good News portion of the City Commission meeting, Commissioner Colson announced that Clamerica appeared to have been a great success. She will have a detailed report for the July 20 meeting. | 
