Wright City aldermen last week selected Grace Hauling to be the city’s new trash and recycling hauler, rejecting a less expensive bid from current hauler Meridian Waste.
Grace Hauling will …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, or you are a print subscriber who had access to our previous wesbite, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you have not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
If you are a current print subscriber and did not have a user account on our previous website, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
Wright City aldermen last week selected Grace Hauling to be the city’s new trash and recycling hauler, rejecting a less expensive bid from current hauler Meridian Waste.
Grace Hauling will take over as the city’s service provider beginning in March 2021. Aldermen voted 4-0 to change providers.
Aldermen said they selected Grace as the trash service because constituents they spoke to preferred a change in service provider, even if it was the costlier option. Residents have previously complained over poor service from Meridian.
“Overwhelmingly, my constituents would like to see (once per week trash and recycling) from Grace Hauling,” said Ward 2 Alderman Ramiz Hakim.
The price difference between the two companies to provide once-per-week trash and once-per-week recycling pickup was about $3 per household, per month. Although Grace Hauling submitted the more expensive bid at $16 per month for each single-family household, the bids from each company were lower than what residents pay now, which averages $16.75 per month according to city staff.
Hakim said it was important that Grace Hauling was quick to offer flexibility when asked about changing pickup dates.
“I think the temperature of what the citizens want is a smaller, local company that is more personable to deal with,” Hakim said.
Ward 1 Alderman Michelle Heiliger said she voted for Grace because of resident feedback, but was more hesitant to drop Meridian’s service.
“I didn’t feel like we, as a city, communicated well with Meridian as to where their challenges were,” Heiliger said. “People came to us and complained, but I didn’t feel 100 percent that we shared that with Meridian and gave them an opportunity to correct the issue.”
The new hauling contract includes an in-demand change for recycling service, returning it to “single-stream” style recycling. All recycling material will be picked up on the same day, rather than alternating materials each week.
Another change at the request of the city: All billing and payment collection will be handled directly by the company, rather than the city office.
Meridian will remain Wright City’s trash hauler until the new contract with Grace Hauling begins in March.
