The City of Holts Summit will have to start paying for its recycling bins. The Holts Summit Board of Aldermen voted to enter into an agreement with Kingdom Projects, Inc. for recycling collection services, agreeing to pay $70 per pick up at its regular meeting Monday night.
Kingdom Projects has picked up city-owned recycling bins free of charge for a few years. However, due to a higher volume of recycling in Holts Summit and a lower value for recycled materials, the company asked the city to start paying for its services.
City Administrator Brian Crane said Holts Summit purchased several roll-off bins for recycling through a Mid-Missouri Solid Waste Management grant a few years ago. At the time, the city estimated needing the bins picked up once or twice a week. Kingdom Projects offered to do so for free.
Now, about three years later, Kingdom Projects makes on average two to three and some weeks four trips to pick up Holts Summit's recycling. Additionally, Crane said the value of recyclable materials has gone down. With the company picking up the city's recycling more frequently - meaning the community is recycling a higher volume - Crane said the city decided to invest in recycling.
"We feel like it's a big enough benefit to our community," Crane said.
Before entering into an agreement with Kingdom Projects, Holts Summit priced Republic Services, which currently picks up the city's trash. Crane said Kingdom Projects was less expensive at $70 per trip.
In other news, the Holts Summit Board of Aldermen and city administrator discussed the possibility of adding a farmers market to the city.
Alderman Jason Glenn said residents have mentioned to him the desire for a farmers market in Holts Summit.
"I think it would be great for the community to have," Glenn said Monday night.
Crane said the city looked into starting a market about three years ago and acquired the insurance needed to do so. However, the city had difficulty finding a location and a time that didn't compete with other markets and vendors. But, he agreed the Holts Summit community has a lot of interest in having a market in town.
"Everything is there ready to go. If we can just get some vendors to be interested, I think we could have a good farmers market," Crane told the board. "There is a lot of interest in the community."
In the past, the city talked about having the market on a city parking lot and out to vendors from area farmers markets. Two vendors expressed interest at the time, but soon after, both moved out of town.
Crane said to get the market started, the city would need to consider relaxing some regulation and not charging a fee for vendors. Also, the city would need to pick a time that did not compete with other area farmers markets. He added that the city still has the insurance policy in place and could hold the market at any city facility.
If the city can find vendors, Crane said the board could get the market started as soon as it wanted. He encouraged the board to tell anyone interested in selling at a Holts Summit farmers market to contact him. The number for city hall is (573) 896-8420.