The Holbrook City Council approved action Nov. 8 to raise the fees for the use of the city’s sanitation services for yard roll-off containers and for those without a city sanitation account. The request for an increase has been anticipated by the council as the city has suffered financial loss with former commercial accounts turning to private sanitation services.
Under the previous rates, the city was charging $245 for a 40-yard roll-off, $195 for a 30-yard roll-off, $100 for a 10-yard roll-off and $32 for a four-yard roll-off. Those rates will increase to $400 for a 40-yard roll-off, or $800 without an account; $300 for a 300-yard roll-off, or $600 without an account; $200 for a 20-yard roll-off, or $400 without an account; $100 for a 10-yard roll-off, or $200 without an account; and $40 for a four-yard roll-off, or $80 without an account. While the increases appear substantial, City Manager Ray Alley maintains that the fees are still good deals. “Even with those increases, we are still half as much as the competition,” he said.
The rates will remain unchanged for all other sanitation services for account holders, but non-account holders will pay $5 per cubic yard for green waste and wood disposal; $20 per cubic yard of household and yard waste; $5 per cubic yard for white goods and miscellaneous metals; $5 per toter; $2 per car or pickup tire; $30 per tractor or semi tire; $10 for each mattress; $5 for each box spring; and $65 per hour for special waste hauling and disposal, which is not an increase from the previous rate. These rates will go into effect Dec. 8.
Alley also informed the council that the roadwork on East Florida Street should be complete this week and that replacement roadwork will be discontinued until the winter months have passed.
He also stated that the city received the permit from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to go ahead with the construction of the well and well house on McLaws Road. “We were going to do the work in-house, but for the quotes that we were getting, we couldn’t do it as cheap. I’ll have that information by the next meeting,” stated Alley.
City Clerk Cher Reyes reported that the Holbrook Fitness Center is going strong with 30 new members signing up in one week. “There are an average of 58 people using the gym each day,” Reyes informed the council, adding that martial arts and dance classes are all being filled, with classes held every weeknight except Friday.
In line with that information, the council authorized a contract between the city and Katrina Tafoya to provide Mexican dance instruction at the community building on Mondays and Thursdays. She will pay the city $1 per student and provide her own liability insurance coverage.
Mayor Jeff Hill invited members of the public interested in participating on a city charter review committee to contact the city offices within the month. The committee would review the charter then recommend changes to the council if any need to be made.
The council awarded a $22,225.26 contract to Pueblo Mechanical & Controls Inc. for the purchase and installation of three heating and cooling units for city hall. The funds for this project will come from an energy efficiency grant awarded to the city.
Assistant City Manager Randy Sullivan explained that this bid was $115.26 higher than two other bids offered, but that there was sound reason to accept it. “This was the only bidder who actually got on the roof to see what they were bidding on. To me, that’s worth paying slightly more for,” he said.
The council also authorized the acceptance of a grant award to the Holbrook Public Library in the form of 11 laptop computers and a workstation, including software and peripherals. The grant will also fund 18 hours of employment for an intern to create and operate a Job Help Hub, with the program to run through June 14. The program is intended to assist disenfranchised employees with job search skills.
