Trash Bill Confusing.

The City Council heard from Beryl Kingsbury, a local recycling proponent, and a representative from Four State Sanitation during the Citizen's Participation period of the Council meeting Tuesday evening at City Hall. The comments were made in an effort to influence the Council's attitude toward the first reading of the Solid Waste Contract on the meeting's agenda.

Beryl, who attended the previous week's Public Works Committee meeting concerning the contract, spoke to reinforce the need for a recycling program for the City. The Committee had voted to recommend a contract that included mandatory curb-side recycling using the current solid waste service of American Disposal Services.

Joe Bartosh spoke to the Council concerning the benefits of using a local solid waste service. Although the bid submitted by Four State Sanitation was close to a dollar per month per resident higher than American's, Bartosh gave a long list of local businesses that directly benefited when the Bartosh family operated Ozark Sanitation in Carthage. Ozark was sold to American several months after John Bartosh negotiated the current five year contract with the City.

Several Council members and the Mayor have received phone calls and personal visits from local citizens during last week urging the contract be awarded to Four State. There was no discussion during the meeting about Four State Sanitation.

When the first reading of the Council Bill authorizing a contract with American was put up for discussion, Council member Art Dunaway moved to amend the contract to have a drop site for recycling rather than mandatory recycling.

Council member Trish Burgi-Brewer approached the topic of the clarifying some of the bid specifications, but was told by Mayor Johnson that could not be discussed while the amendment was on the floor.

After some confusion Public Works Committee Chair Bill Fortune, who was out of town and missed last week's committee meeting, told the Council that the Council bill before them was not the one recommended by the Committee. Council member Jackie Boyer asked for an explanation. Mayor Ken Johnson responded that he had instructed that the basic contract, without provisions for recycling, be presented instead. He cited the recent survey that conclude that although a good percentage of people were willing to recycle, most stated they would not be willing to pay for the service. He said he didn't think it was fair to force people on fixed income to pay for the extra service. The recycling portion of the service would have added a dollar and twenty-nine cents to the monthly residential trash charge.

Dunaway eventually changed his motion from an amendment to the trash bill to a separate motion to create a drop point type of recyling center at the City landfill area. This was approved by a voice vote.

In an interview with the Mornin' Mail, Mayor Johnson took full responsibility for the unusual tactic. He said that if the Council bill had happened to pass as recommended by the Public Works Committee, he would have vetoed it anyway. He said the maneuver was probably a mistake, but he doubted that it would be his last mistake made as Mayor.

Judging from the lack of commitment of any Council members in pushing the mandatory recyling portion of the contract, there seems to be little ambition to confront the issue, although Trish Burgi-Brewer will likely address what she perceives as a violation of the bidding specifications. She refers to the portion of the specs that state "Any disposal site, or composting site or facility, must be identified by the Contractor, licensed and approved by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and accepted by the City of Carthage." American plans to use their disposal site in Kansas.

City Administrator Tom Short says that during pre-bid meetings, all potential bidders heard discussion that some might use out-of-state disposal sites, and raised no objections. Burgi-Brewer attended at least one of those meetings, says Short, and didn't raise the issue at that time.

Short says his information is that Missouri cannot control solid waste after it leaves the state. He says there are court decisions that are sited as president in such cases. Short also referred to the recent survey in which less than 1% of respondents showed any dissatisfaction with American as the current trash hauler.

Just Jake Talkin'
Mornin',

The Council voted to establish an unnamed committee to "discuss and seek a possible settlement of the civil action now pending" concerning the Myers Memorial Airport Committee relating to the closure of the Myers Park Memorial Airport. Accordin' to the resolution, the committee has fourteen days to contact representatives of the plaintiffs to schedule meetings to discuss the matter.

From what I can see, this round is goin' ta be attempted without attorneys if possible. Hopefully they can work out an agreement that would allow the continuation of the progress in locatin' a new airport and the potential development of the Myers Park property. The committee is supposed ta report back to the Council with any news. Looks like they might be serious.

This is some fact, but mainly,

Just Jake Talkin'.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click and Clack
TALK CARS

by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

The first car I drove in 1978 was a Saab with a two-stroke, slant-three engine. Friends jested that this was a lawnmower engine, because I had to add a quart of oil to the gas tank every time I filled it up. I took their remarks as a great insult ... to my lawnmower, which is a very nice machine.

Do two-stroke engines exist on the planet anymore? My father still owns this masterpiece. Would you guys refuse to work on it if it rolled into your shop? And most important, what kind of prayer would you recommend before shooting it between the headlights? -Bill

TOM: There are tons of two-stroke engines around these days, Bill. They're in just about every chain saw, weed whacker, snowmobile and gas-powered nose-hair clipper on the planet. But they're not used in cars much these days, at least not in the United States.

RAY: Two-stroke engines have great advantages. Because every other stroke is a powers stroke ( as opposed to every fourth stroke in a common, four cylinder car engine), two-cycle engines provide a lot of power and torque in a very small size. That's why chainsaws use them. Do you think Lenny the Lumberjack wants to schlep a 25-pound four-cycle engine halfway up a spruce tree? I should say not!

TOM: Plus, two strokes have the added advantage of being able to be used upside down, since they don't have oil-filled crankcases. So as Lenny is falling backwards out of the tree, he can still prune a few limbs on his way down.

RAY: The problem with the old two-cycle engines is that they ran very inefficiently and created a lot of pollution.

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