(In response to a post made earlier by Mike Allen, candidate for Ward 5)

The proposal that I made yesterday in the recycling committee is most certainly not perfect. However, I would like to address a couple of points that you have brought to light.

The biggest reason for suggesting bags rather than bins was to hold down cost and facilitate a starting point for the program. There would not be a source of funds currently available to purchase bins. Allegedly, there may be grant money available for them, but there is no guarantee or specific timeline. Waiting on grant money that may, or may not be available, did not seem to be an effective way of taking proactive steps toward curbside recycling within the city.

As to your point about the sanitation department wanting you to mix your recyclables in one bag, the simple answer is yes we do. As a resident, all you have to do is place your recycling into one bag and place it on the curb on the appropriate day. The sorting will be done at Starkville Recycling by their personnel, on their equipment, at no cost to the city. All the Sanitation Department will do is pick up and deliver recycling.

Your comment about not being “citywide” is a bit misleading. The Sanitation department currently provides curbside garbage pick up for over 6,000 residencies throughout the entirety of the city. Those same residents will have the opportunity to participate in the proposed curbside recycling program. I would consider that one heck of a first step, considering that the city provides curbside recycling to exactly zero residencies at the present time.

As far as the time delay, as you know from your time in the CGT, municipalities are bound by state purchase laws and procedures. Starkville can’t just go out and make a purchase of this magnitude without following the state’s purchase laws and processes. While I’m sure that everyone would like to see this program up and running as soon as possible, the delay actually is a blessing. When evaluating successful recycling programs, education is one of the keys to success. This delay will allow the city to organize and implement a quality educational program for citizens, hopefully maximizing participation within the program.

I’m glad that recycling would be a priority of yours if you were elected to the Board. I hope that you would be able to build on the foundation that is being put in place for curbside recycling and help foster the program’s growth and success.

Sumner Davis

According to the SDN, curbside could start as soon as this NOvember with every other week pickup. That’s great. But why will it take 7 months to put $10,000 worth of non-black colored trash bags out for bid?

Sanitation Department Director Sharon Boyd said that she will put an extra $10,000 worth of bags of a different color out to bid, a process that will end in October.

Is $10k worth of green bags all that is keeping the City form starting sooner? Couldn’t they just get a bunch from Lowe’s and start next month?

The Columbus/Starkville/Brookhaven resident exited the ever popular American Idol last night. You have to think that a top 13 finish will do wonders to her career.

Not really. I think.

We are joining the capitalistic ranks by accepting paid advertising.

Does that mean the folks who fork up the $$$ get a free pass?

Nope. Not at all. It just means they can pay for the opportunity to reach the people who like to see them roasted publicly.

StarkvilleNow has been a labor of love for the past 2 years (read: hobby that loses money). Thanks to an ever-expanding viewership, this has turned into one of the places where you can reach Starkville online.

And no, Matt Cox doesn’t get a discount on ads.

We’ll try to keep it low key.

Thoughts? Comments? Flames?

Not to be confused with the Final Five on Battlestar Galactica. You can read about it at a ton of places.

Link 1

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Link 3

So, where is she really from?