OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Mayor Jean Stothert says Omaha's recycling company threatened to walk away from services in 2020 if they didn't pay them more.
At Tuesday's Omaha City Council meeting the City of Omaha and Firstar Fiber Recycling Company told councilmembers they'd reached an interim agreement for 2020 services.
The amendment will start January 1 and will pay Firstar $110 per ton; compensation can be adjusted quarterly. Plus, they'd receive additional funds if recycling in wet weather.
Mayor Stothert says Firstar initially increased their services to $110-dollars per ton, a retail rate, but then wanted citizens to pay $143 per ton. That led to a standstill.
Councilmembers agreed the primary concern was to make sure recycling was picked up as usual without problems.
"I'm pleased the City Council secured the short term so we won't any disruption in recycling service come January 1st, but I remain pretty concerned about the long term here I'm interested in a 10 year contract and want to follow that re-bid very closely because we need to be committed to recycling in the long-term,” said Councilman Pete Festersen.
The goal is to have that interim contract in front of the Omaha City Council at their January 7 meeting. The city wants to have the new set of bid documents be ready to send out in early 2020.
A statement from Mayor @Jean_Stothert on the recycling agreement for 2020.@3NewsNowOmaha pic.twitter.com/Z40NXOzXyA
— Jake Wasikowski (@jakewasikowski) December 17, 2019
