City may end recycling contract

Last July, Complete Recovery, the city's recycling partner, agreed to take recycling materials at no charge and agreed to pay the city 40 percent of the cardboard revenues.

"Shortly after the contract went into affect the markets declined very rapidly for recyclable material as well as the cardboard," Spencer City Manager Bob Fagen told the council in his packet memo.

In January, the company told the city it needed a $40 per ton subsidy from the city for recycling materials and wanted to remove the 40 percent requirement for cardboard.

Since then, city staff members have found an alternative vender in Cherokee who will accept the recycling material and cardboard at no charge. The Public Works Committee recommended action to invoke a 30-day termination clause in the contract.

Fagen called Complete Recovery a "great partner" in the city's recycling efforts. The city is giving the company a June 30 termination date, which is beyond the 30-day termination notice, to give them more time to find ways to reduce its subsidy.

The city's only expense, if it changes partners, would be labor and fuel costs for the transport to Cherokee.

In other action, members of the Spencer City Council approved a 3 percent pay increase for some city employees as part of Monday night's regular meeting.

The pay increase resolution applies to the pay of full-time employees, usually department supervisors, who are not part of the bargaining unit for city employees.

Ward 5 council member Ron Hanson once again opposed a percentage increase and was the only council member to vote against the 3 percent hike. He feels city employees, regardless of position, should get a raise based on dollar amounts, not percentages.

The percentage increase does not include longevity increases in the salary matrix, but is consistent with the Collective Bargaining Unit Agreement that was approved in April 2007, according to a memo from Spencer City Manager Bob Fagen.

The council action also incorporated previously approved amendments and updates to the personnel manual as part of the vote.

Spencer City Council members also approved a series of temporary street closures as developers try to relocate the century-old Episcopal Church building from 200 East Fifth Street to 24 West Park Street.

Developers are relocating the building with plans to establish a riverside Italian restaurant. The move is pending Department of Transportation approval and would take place on Tuesday, May 26 and Wednesday, May 27.