Hoping to improve issues with trash providers, the Pelham City Council voted unanimously to enter into the Cahaba Solid Waste Authority at their meeting on Monday, June 7. The authority is a group made up of four other cities throughout the area that have organized to improve their control and buying power in relation to solid waste services. The process for joining this was headed in part by City Councilmember David Coram, who explained that it would provide a number of benefits for the city.
“This is a conglomeration of several municipalities in our area that have come together to take the power into our own hands when it comes to our garbage services,” said Coram. “Coming together with other municipalities will allow us to improve our buying power when it comes to our solid waste and provide more negotiating power for our city.”
Joining the authority would give the city more control in regards to services and choosing a service provider instead of being locked to a particular one. “The finances would basically be that the costs for the services would be collected by the authority. The payments that would go to make improvements, to make infrastructure improvements would be taken by the authority. We don’t have any plans yet for a fund for this. The fees that we take in for this service got to pay for the administration and the cost of delivering. Any cost the authority had would be paid through fees collected by the user,” Pelham City Manager Gretchen DiFante explained.