COUNCIL TO CONSIDER BIDS ON HIGHER TRASH-DISPOSAL COSTS

The cost to dispose of Cape Girardeau's solid waste will increase next year, although probably not as much as city officials had feared.

At tonight's meeting, the Cape Girardeau City Council will review bids received for the hauling and disposal of the city's trash.

In February, the council agreed to seek bids on the service after city officials already had negotiated a new five-year contract with Lemons Landfill in Dexter.

Lemons' current contract with the city expires in December, and the negotiated contract would have seen tipping-fee rates increase from $11.50 to $12.50 per ton next year and an additional 50 cents per ton annually through 1998.

But when representatives of Continental Waste Industries of Three Oaks, Mich., asked that the contract be bid, the council obliged.

Continental recently had bought the Jackson County, Ill., landfill, and Lemons Landfill subsequently was sold to Allied Solid Waste Co.

At the time, Public Works Director Doug Leslie said that between buyouts by Allied and Continental it appeared "that the large, national solid-waste concerns have gained control of all available facilities in our region."

Sverdrup was hired in June to analyze the situation and prepare the bid specifications for the hauling and disposal contract. The five-year contract was expected to cost about $500,000 annually.

Leslie and other officials said they feared the bids would come in much higher than the previously negotiated contract with Lemons.

According to a letter to the council from Mary Ellen Klein, the city's environmental services coordinator, the tipping fees will be higher than the previous agreement.

With the Lemons Waste Systems' bid, the fee will increase from $11.50 to $13.25 in the contract's first year.

Subsequent rates would be $13.60 for the second year, $13.95 for the third, $14.30 for the fourth, and $14.70 for the fifth. The hauling fee would be $92.50 per container.

Klein said Continental Waste Industries Inc. submitted the only other bid on the contract. That bid included charges of $16.25 per ton for the first and second years, $17.25 for the third, $18.25 for the fourth, and $19.25 for the fifth.

Continental's hauling fee would be $90 per container.

"The bid analysis was completed by Sverdrup Corp., and the recommendation is to award the contract to Lemons Waste Systems," Klein said.

In other business tonight, the council will conduct public hearings on:

-- The request of Harold and Yvonne Werner to rezone property at 2011-2019 Perryville Road from single-family residential to local commercial district.

-- The request of Gregory Sparkman and Lester Sample for a special use permit for an automobile salvage operation at 503 Maple.

-- The request of Howard and Linda Metheny for a special use permit for a business office at 2541 Ranchito Drive.

-- The necessity to improve Margaret Street between Leroy and Marvin streets at a maximum cost of $36.70 per front foot to be assessed to abutting property owners.

Other agenda items include:

-- A resolution authorizing a contract with PR Developers Inc. to pave Margaret Street. PR Developers' bid of $17,137 was the lowest of three. Other bids were submitted by Fronabarger Concreters of Jackson, $20,826, and R&K Curtis Inc. of Sikeston, $20,032. The city engineer's estimate was $18,776.

-- A resolution authorizing a contract with Monroe Plumbing and Heating Co. for relocation of the Independence waterline. Monroe's bid of $25,255 was the lowest of two bids. Dutch Enterprises of Jackson bid $50,095 for the work, and the city engineer's estimate was $26,232.

--20An appointment to the city's Golf Course Advisory Board, where the term of Thomas M. Meyer expires Nov. 12.