Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Stink Raised Over Garbage Funds

Solid waste continues to be a problem for the City of Gurdon.

The Gurdon City Council, in its regular monthly meeting Monday night, was informed the solid waste account ended the year with $90, and not enough to pay the Gurdon Water and Sewer Department its handling fees.

Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith said the Water and Sewer Department receives 6 percent of the solid waste fees, as it handles the collection of them.

Last year, according to Gurdon City Recorder/Treasurer Tambra Smith, the Water Department was paid $4,345.60 for handling the billing and collection. Residents are billed for garbage pickup on their water bills.

In December, the mayor attended the meeting of the Water and Sewer Commission, asking them to think about reducing the amount they receive for collecting the fees. "I think 3 percent would be a fair amount for what they do," Smith told the council.

Tambra Smith said the city is spending all the money coming in from the solid waste collections, and is still running short.

According to the mayor, when the solid waste account was first established, senior citizens were given a discount if they met certain criteria. This, he said, is being abused and needs to be looked at.

Smith said the regulations state no more than 40 pounds of trash can be in any one bag at a time, but this, too, is being violated. The idea of keeping the weight down was to keep workers from being injured and to make sure the bags wouldn't rupture, thereby spilling trash all over the ground.

The mayor suggested a committee be formed to look at the garbage problem and see if something can be done without having to increase the rates.

He also said the city needs to start a recycling program to help reduce the amount of trash being placed in the waste stream. Several tons could be eliminated by recycling newsprint alone.

Smith said the city is charged for garbage based on the weight of the amount collected.

He is looking at purchasing a recycling bin with money the city has from a grant. The recycling program, he said, will be operated on a volunteer basis at first.

In other business, Smith informed the council the city will not have the money in its budget to purchase a new police car for the Gurdon Police Department. His hopes, when first taking office in 1994, were to buy a new patrol car every other year.

The city, he said, was able to do this in 1996, but because of revenue problems, can't do it this year.

This means the GPD will be operating two older cars with high mileage. Because of this, Smith said, the city will have to have more in the maintenance budget to keep these vehicles operational.

But, with the new half-cent sales tax passed by the people of Gurdon, there will be additional revenue coming in. He suggested establishing a capital improvement account for the GPD to set money aside for the purchase of new cars .

In 1996, the city leased a vehicle for the GPD. Smith said it can be purchased for about $7,800. This would be a good idea for the council to do, he said, and can be done by using money from the City Fines II account.

An ordinance to this effect can be passed at the February meeting, thereby giving the GPD full ownership of the two vehicles.

Other police news saw a letter of apology from Sgt. Don Childres to the mother of a child he accidently struck at the playoff football game between Gurdon and Shiloh Christian Academy.

The child was reportedly playing around and "poked" Childres in the eye. When this occurred, he pushed/kicked the child and uttered obscenities.

In the letter, he tells the mother he is sorry for what happened and wishes it didn't. He said poor judgement was used on his part in the language he used.

Smith, in an unrelated issue, said the GPD spent too much money at Gurdon's Jif-E-Mart convenience stores.

He told the council the city made a deal with Smithpeter Oil Co., with the company handling the excise taxes involved, while giving the city a discount.

For those late nights the officers need gas, he said, an above-ground tank for GPD use only is at Lowe Field. However, Smith said, the tank did have a leaky hose in October and November, but he thought it had been repaired.

If it hasn't, he said, it needs to be so the officers can quit buying gas at Jif-E- Mart.

The council was saddened by a letter of resignation from Edna Cooper, who was in her second term as a councilman. Cooper resigned saying she has moved out of the city limits and can no longer represent Ward 4.

Smith said a vacancy will be declared and the council can select a replacement for Cooper.

However, whoever is chosen will only serve until Dec. 31, as all seats on the council are up for reelection this year.

The council also passed an ordinance to approve all revenues and expenditures for 1997, and amending the '97 budget accordingly.

Because of the new tax being collected, the council has not approved a budget for 1998.

Smith set a budget committee meeting for 6:30 p.m. Thursday to work on the expenditures for '98. He said the revenues are already pretty much known at this time.

Once a budget has been hammered out, the council will meet in special session. A budget for the city must be adopted by Feb. 1, 1998.