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The Winona County Board is expected to discuss its county-wide recycling contract during the regular board meeting on Tuesday, January 22, at 7 p.m.
The item is listed on the “Committee of the Board” agenda, meaning commissioners won’t vote on any changes, but are instead expected to receive an update on the five-year recycling program.
An investigation conducted by the Winona Post earlier this month uncovered a contract dispute with the recycling company, Veolia Environmental Services, that was not shared with the full board. The company believed that the contract language allowed it to charge the county $25 for each commercial or multi-family recycling container it emptied, rather than for each time the truck stopped to empty a cluster of recycling containers. Veolia’s interpretation of the contract represented a $900,000 increase in the $730,000 annual price for the service.
Commissioners were not told of the dispute. Instead, they were given a list of other problems with the service, such as increased labor for alley pickup in the city of Winona and difficulty providing service to the most rural residents in the county. In November, commissioners voted to give the company $58,000 more annually for the program, with commissioner Marcia Ward voting against the increase. (For more on this story, read the January 13 edition of the Winona Post, or visit www.winonapost.com.)
Also on the agenda
Other items on the agenda include:
• Acceptance of a $10,000 state grant from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety for the Winona County Sexual Assault Interagency Council;
• Consider a request to allow county staff to “consider the use of renewable energy technologies in the remodeling, planning and design of county buildings,” with any future renewable energy technology purchases requiring a vote from the full board;
• Consider a $5,035 per month contract with Winona ORC Industries for digital imaging of paper documents; and
• Receive the Winona County Citizens Review Panel annual report.
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