If Odessans want to continue recycling, they’ll have to take their materials to the Time Machine. The City of Odessa will no longer have community collection sites.
Odessa’s city council members have been discussing how to handle recycling for the past few months because BRI Recycling Services contract is about to expire and the company advised the city there’s not much of a market for recycling now and what they collect in Odessa is highly contaminated.
On Tuesday, Public Works Director Tom Kerr told city council members he and BRI came up with two options for them to consider. Under both options, the city will spend $125,000 to put up new fencing at the Time Machine, purchase more 30-yard recycle containers and remove a divider wall to accommodate the containers. A baler will also be removed at a cost of $25,000.
By putting up the new fencing, the city hopes to cut down on the contamination.
The Time Machine will continue to operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays at a cost of $60,000 annually and BRI will continue to process the materials for $30,000 annually.
Under Option A, BRI would continue to haul the materials to its Midland facility for $315,000 annually and under Option B, the city would go out to bid in the hopes of finding another company to haul the materials to BRI’s Midland facility.
Kerr said other vendors are interested in hauling the materials and for less than BRI would charge.
The director told the council he expected the city to save $150,000 to $200,000 annually by going with Option B. The council agreed they were interested in Option B and BRI’s new two-year contract will be placed on an upcoming agenda.
The city council also heard from Taylor Rich of Sitelogx and Roger King from Pipeline Solutions Tuesday. Both men believe there are businesses in Odessa that, because of their size, are being forced to move non-petro chemicals, surplus natural gas, sour crude and other items via trucks when they could one day move them via trains.
The men asked city council members for help in identifying those companies. Mayor Javier Joven said he would put them in touch with the Odessa Chamber of Commerce and the Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance.
Last July, Joven and Odessa Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Director Tom Manskey participated in discussions about the possible creation of a direct transportation line between the Plaquemines Port Harbor and Terminal District south of New Orleans and Odessa.
On Tuesday, Rich and King said Odessa could create transportation lines with other ports as well.
The city council had to table a discussion on a sports complex because Synergy Global representatives ran into flight issues.
On Feb. 14, the Odessa City Council agreed to hire Synergy Global for $15,000 to conduct a sports complex feasibility study. Synergy met with citizens to get their input, but they also looked at demographics and socioeconomics, sports participation rates, competitors, the size and components of the city’s courts and fields and possible partnerships and construction costs. In addition, more than 3,100 participated in a 10-question online survey as to their sports complex desires.
Synergy had been expected to share their thoughts on what they discovered.
