Ellington

The city of Soddy-Daisy has postponed awarding its waste services contract until the next commission meeting Thursday, June 21 at 7 p.m.

City Recorder and Finance Director Burt Johnson said the decision was delayed due to the absence of City Attorney Sam Elliott at the June 7 meeting.

He said he hopes commissioners will come to a decision at the next meeting, as the city’s current contract with Waste Connections of Tennessee is set to expire June 30.

If commissioners go with the lowest bid, submitted by Waste Connections, the garbage fees paid by the city will actually be lower than current fees for the first year, said Johnson.

“There’s a possibility fees could be lowered by $40,000 in the first year,” he said.

Commissioners determined contracting with Allied Waste, which had given a presentation at an earlier commission meeting about its recycling services that could be rotated every other week with trash pickup, would be too costly for the city.

“Vice Mayor [Janice] Cagle asked if it was possible for individual citizens to put out containers and pay for [recycling service] themselves,” said Johnson, though commissioners were concerned this might pose a problem with the wording of the contracter the city decides to go with.

The city also adopted its annual pay plan and classification for city employees, a routine practice Johnson said must be done every year.

In the budget for the coming year, which passed on second reading at a special called meeting May 24, city employees were awarded a 5 percent pay raise across the board, said Johnson.