McComb Mayor Whitney Rawlings’ crusade for curbside recycling in the city by 2015 is one step closer to reality.
On Tuesday, Rawlings announced the city had been approved for a $123,916 Cooperative Recycling Grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to expand the recycling program with Keep Pike County Beautiful and extend it for at least one year.
McComb, partnering with Pike County, Magnolia, Osyka and Summit, dedicated $17,500 to the recycling program, with McComb and Pike County contributing $7,500, Magnolia and Summit $1,000 and Osyka $500.
“That gave our grant application strength, with everybody in Pike County on board and kicking in money,” Rawlings said.
Waste Management will place a recycling bin in Magnolia, Osyka and Summit, and the bin and compactor at Fire Station No. 4 in McComb will continue to operate. No specific location has been set for the three new containers, but security cameras, signs, lights and fences will be added around them like the one in McComb.
Rawlings said the city would advertise for a program manager soon, and that employee would be responsible for visiting each site regularly and traveling around the community to educate students and residents about the importance of recycling. In the grant proposal, Rawlings budgeted $35,000 for the program manager’s salary and benefits with the $17,500 contributed by the local governments covering half of that cost.
Since kicking off the program with one bin in McComb in October, the amount hauled away to the recycling center in Sumrall has increased, starting with 4.65 tons in the first month and jumping to 6.95 tons by February.
“I’m just thrilled because we’ve found through this little effort we’re making out here that people are responding,” Rawlings said. “If we can continue to do this for another 12 months, then we believe we can renegotiate our contract with Waste Management and bring curbside recycling to the city, and we hope to educate our public in such a manner that 25, 35 percent of our population would actually recycle.”
Rawlings will go to Jackson this month to finalize paperwork for the grant, and the project will move into Magnolia, Osyka and Summit soon thereafter.
The board also:
• Learned that Pike County municipal court Judge Danny Smith is out of the hospital and back on the bench. City administrator Quordiniah Lockley said a wheelchair ramp had to be installed at the courthouse for Smith to use.
• Deemed Harlan Properties, 211 State St. eligible for the city’s tax abatement program for businesses in the Depot district.
• Approved a contract with Sonya Lowery to manage the McComb Farmers Market for $100 per week from May through October.
• Approved a permit with AT&T for the installation of underground telephone cables along Richmond Street between LaBranch and LaSalle streets.
• Authorized the readvertisement for bids for the re-roofing of seven city buildings with shingle roofs that were damaged during the hail storm of March 2013. During the first bidding process, one of the two bidders was ruled ineligible, and the city must have two bids.
• Approved the travel of Rawlings to the Coalition of School Education for Boys of Color in Jackson in April. Rawlings will travel with McComb School District officials.
