Posted on December 3, 2015.
By Bill Short
Millington Finance Director John Trusty said recently that a consulting firm is using software to propose a new plan for the city’s solid-waste collection. He recalled that, at the request of City Manager Ed Haley, The University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service conducted a study of Millington’s Sanitation Department. The city also “simultaneously” advertised for bids on the possibility of privatizing that service. Trusty made the comments at the Nov. 9 meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. “This board elected to retain sanitation in-house,” he noted, “but for us to look at ways to improve it and reduce costs.” He said the MTAS report stated that “some changes must occur” in order for the Sanitation Department to become competitive with the private sector. Routing must be “reviewed, adjusted and balanced” to promote more efficient collections. Trusty said this can be accomplished “in-house with assistance,” or with a consulting firm that specializes in using “routing software” for such applications. He said Haley concluded that it would be best to use an “outside” firm. “That way,” he noted, “we don’t have any question of whether we’ve done the best we can to make it effective.” Trusty said C2 Logix of Odessa, Fla., a consulting firm that was “previously reported” to the board, is providing that service at a contract price not to exceed $7,986. He noted that the city has submitted “a lot of information” to the firm, which has responded with an “initial concept plan” that includes the “preliminary structure” of the proposed routes. “We raised some questions with that,” he acknowledged. “They made some adjustments, and they sent us a detailed route plan.” Trusty recalled that, on Nov. 4, he, Haley, Sanitation Supervisor Rodney Stanback and Public Works Director Jimmy Black participated in a “conference call” with the firm that lasted several hours. “We went through in-depth each of the routes that they had proposed,” he noted. “We identified some concerns with part of that. And after we talked about it, they identified some things that they wanted to go back and tweak as well.” Trusty said the city anticipated that the firm would submit those revisions before the end of November. “At that time,” he noted, “we will evaluate if there are any other changes necessary. Then, we will move toward developing a plan of how we’re going to notify residents.” Alderman Hank Hawkins asked whether the new routes will be able to “accommodate more houses” each day.
“The structure assumes that we will have one truck with a crew of three working five days a week for the regular collection,” Trusty replied. “And each of those days will be full routes.”
