BAYBRIEF | MOBILE
Reduce, reuse, defer
MOBILE CITY COUNCIL DELAYS VOTE ON RECYCLING CHANGES
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BY DALE LIESCH
$3 million judgment against the city’s Solid Waste Authority for breach of contract could have an impact on a new recycling policy being pushed by Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s administration. Earlier this month, Stimpson announced changes to the city’s recycling and litter policies. He said the city’s recycling program would now be single stream and more convenient. The Mobile City Council on Tuesday delayed a vote on two contracts related to the change in policy. While most items introduced for the first time are held over, per council rules, councilors specifically asked about the legal ramifications of approving the contracts after attorneys for Waste Management had successfully argued twice that the city’s Solid Waste Authority breached a 1993 contract by sending yard debris to a landfill not management by WM. Members of the Solid Waste Authority Board, namely Chairman Pete Riehm and Michael Druhan, asked the council for copies of the proposed contracts for review. Council President Gina Gregory said the council would grant their request. “We are sensitive to that,” Riehm said of a possible lawsuit. “We already have a $3 million bill we can’t pay.” City Attorney Ricardo Woods argued recycling has diverted from the WM-managed Chastang landfill for years and the company “missed the boat.”
Riehm told councilors the SWA had been sending yard debris to the Dirt Inc. landfill for 20 years before WM hit them with a lawsuit in federal court, claiming their contract stipulated all waste was to go to Chastang. The city hopes the new policy will increase its “abysmal” landfill diversion rate of 6 percent, Stimpson said. Both Gregory and Councilman John Williams were concerned that if the diversion rate increases, WM might begin to take notice of the city’s recycling program. Williams said Waste Management could change its mind. “When they see it hurt their bottom line, they’re going to start raising their heads,” he said. Complicating the issue is the current lease of the Government Street recycling center, which expires in July. It is the administration’s goal to move the compactors to city-owned property at that point, possibly at the Mobile Police Department’s first precinct on Virginia Street. The city will also have a drop-off location at the Western Administration Complex near Langan Park. The goal is to have a dropoff spot in every council district. Councilmen Joel Daves and Levon Manzie both said they wanted the council to act quickly on the administration’s recommendation. “I’m reluctant to be frozen into inaction on something as impactful as this,” Daves said, acknowledging there were good arguments on both sides. “There is tremendous room for improvement in recycling.”
Shift change IVEY AIMS TO ‘STEADY SHIP OF STATE’
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BY LEE HEDGEPETH
ov. Kay Ivey took office just over a week ago, and while the former lieutenant governor still hasn’t settled into the Governor’s Mansion, she’s already made significant changes in the state. Ivey ascended to the governor’s chair after its former occupant, Robert Bentley, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor campaign finance violations in an agreement ending what was nearly the state’s first impeachment of a top politician. Upon taking office, Ivey alluded to Bentley’s fall from power, but said the “dark day” was also an opportunity for the state. “Today is both a dark day for Alabama yet also one of opportunity. I ask for your help and patience as we together steady the ship of state and improve Alabama’s image. Those are my first priorities as your 54th governor,” Ivey said. “When I took the oath of office in 2011 and then again in 2015, I was prepared for this day, but never desired or expected it. The people of Alabama should know that there will be no disruption in the function of your state government.” On her first full day as governor, Ivey’s office confirmed the termination of Jon Mason from his position as director of Serve Alabama, the governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Volunteer Service, a position that paid $91,400 annually. Mason is the husband of Rebekah Mason, with whom former Gov. Bentley admitted to having an inappropriate relationship, although he continues to deny any physical relationship. Mason’s termination wasn’t the only staff change made by the new governor, either. In
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addition to asking, as is custom, for the resignation letters of all top appointed administration officials, on her second day in office Gov. Ivey abolished the Office of Rural Development, which was headed up by former gubernatorial candidate Ron Sparks. Sparks, who was the Democratic runner-up to Bentley in the 2010 governor’s race, said the move is a blow to rural Alabama. “You all learned of this decision in the same manner as I did, through news media,” he said in a social media post on the matter. “I am deeply saddened that politics came before protecting the people of rural Alabama, and especially before saving the lives of babies.” In response, Ivey said in a statement the office’s purposes will be better served by integrating them into the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. “Rural Alabama is near and dear to my heart. Don’t forget I’m from rural Wilcox County,” Ivey said. “My decision to shutter the Office of Rural Development will refocus rural development efforts into existing agencies.” In another capital shake-up, Ivey announced she has changed the date for the special election to replace Jeff Sessions in the United States Senate to comply with state law, which says an election must be held immediately following a vacancy if it occurs more than four months from the regularly scheduled election. Previously, Bentley had set an election for November 2018, a move criticized by many, including Republican Secretary of State John Merrill.