Bay Council eyes central garbage site
By Jennifer Lenain
Mar 8, 2013, 23:24
The Bay St. Louis City Council on Tuesday discussed creating a centralized dump-station in downtown Bay St. Louis near the parking garage and the Hancock County Youth Court building on Court Street.
Mayor Les Fillingame said on Friday that the location must not be intrusive but close enough for businesses to access.
The dump-station would serve the use of businesses in the downtown area that are having trouble placing dumpsters on their properties.
The dump-station could potentially be a compactor that can take 120 yards of trash and compact it down to 30 yards, Ward Five Councilman Joey Boudin said.
"The compactor is 22-feet long, seven-feet wide and eight-feet tall," Boudin said. "It would have to have a hydraulic pump control unit and electricity, so a power-pole would need to be installed."
The average cost of a compactor is $18,000 and the monthly rent can range from $300 to $700, Boudin said.
"I am opposed," Boudin said Wednesday, "I do not want taxpayers' money to be paying for businesses' trash to get picked up.
"I know the potential problems and the costs."
"We are also talking with waste programs about special collection in the downtown area that would pick up from locations at specific times of the day," Fillingame said.
Fillingame said that type of collection would not require the use of typical dumpsters.
No formal action has been taken on the matter, Fillingame said, "but we really need to start making some decisions on what we are going to do."
