Jendro asks city for rate increase based off Consumer Price Index

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

The price of recycling and processing garbage has gone up in many places around the world.

That means users of the blue and green totes in Charles City that are placed by curbs all over town may see an increase soon in their monthly bills.

Alan Powell, president of Jendro Sanitation, requested a 2.3% rate increase at a City Council planning session held Wednesday evening.

The city’s contract with Jendro allows the company to petition the city annually for a rate increase based on the Consumer Price Index, an estimate of how goods and services increase or decrease for urban consumers across the United States.

Expenditures that have increased for Jendro include wages, fuel, insurance and utilities, and the amount of garbage hauled and processed has increased as well.

“We used to collect about 21,000 pounds a week in Charles City for trash. It’s now at 44,000,” said Powell. “Everybody wants to get their value out of their tote, so they fill that garbage tote to the top.”

“This is really the first time Alan’s doing a CPI request,” said City Administrator Steve Diers. “Last year it was basically based on that increased cost of recycling. So it was above and beyond that CPI.”

Diers said the cost increase that went into effect last year was a weighted average. Last year, the monthly bill to utilize a 35-gallon tote rose from $12 to $13. If approved, the increase this year will cost households 30 cents, meaning the proposed monthly rate would rise to $13.30.

A 65-gallon tote charge would increase from $16.75 to $17.14 under this new rate amendment. A 95-gallon tote’s monthly bill would shoot up 47 cents to $20.97. The price of an extra bag would increase 4 cents to $1.58.

“We have one rate for everything. We don’t delineate between garbage and recycling,” said Diers.
Diers said the rate increase would take effect in April and be reflected on Charles City residents’ May bill.

A mockup design of the Corporate Drive Water Tower for a proposed paint job that could take place this spring or summer was discussed among city leaders.

The eight-foot-tall blue lettering that would go up on one side of the tower facing the Highway 14 exchange would read “Charles City” and be in the same font as the entrance signs that were placed at four different locations entering town. Two city logos would be included, at the beginning and end of the lettering.

Water Superintendent Cory Spieker said the two logos and lettering on just one side of the tower would cost around $12,500. He also said lighting could be added to enhance the new design on the tower that drivers see from the road.

The lettering and logos would be visible to those driving on the Avenue of the Saints.

Talk then shifted to whether it should be on two sides of the tower and where the lettering should be centered.

“Do you think we should have it on two sides?” said Mayor Dean Andrews. “I kind of like it just once myself.”

The current black lettering on the water tower is five feet high and reads “Charles City” in front of a blue and teal background.

Approximately $260,000 is budgeted this year for the project, which also includes some repairs of the million-gallon tower that sits near the Southwest Development Park.

Spieker said paint jobs on water towers last about 15 years. The Corporate Drive tower hasn’t seen a fresh coat of paint since it was erected in 2004.

Spieker also presented the Council with an estimate from Dixon Engineering for $14,570 to do a Risk and Resilience Assessment along with an Emergency Response Plan for the water department. Spieker said those steps need to be taken and certified by June 2021. The work is done by the Environmental Protection Agency and is part of the American Water Infrastructure Act of 2018.

A supplemental agreement with the city and Calhoun Burns and Associates to provide on-site observation of the Main Street Bridge project was discussed. The cost of that work would be $55,000 and also include field testing to make sure the contractor is performing the work in accordance with the plans and specifications.

The contract was awarded to Jasper Construction, Newton, for a base bid of $280,000 earlier this month.

Work will focus on fixing cracks and lifting the road surface of the 1910-built bridge.

A proposal from the Iowa Soybean Association to provide technical assistance to the newly hired watershed coordinator, Doug Johnson, was also reviewed. That assistance would include the testing of water samples collected by the coordinator.

For those services, the city would pay the ISA $10,400 annually for a five-year term total of $52,000.

The funds to pay for the testing were received through the Iowa Partner’s in Conservation Grant.