Crockett Lays Out Guidelines for City Services

Council Approves Transfer Station Agreement

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – The Crockett City Council came together on Monday, July 6 in a regularly scheduled meeting highlighted by the approval of an agreement for the operation of a transfer station with Piney Woods Sanitation and a discussion on the re-opening of city facilities.

With no public comments, Crockett Mayor – Dr. Ianthia Fisher – moved the council into the actionable item portion of the agenda. The first item for discussion pertained to the transfer station agreement.

City Administrator John Angerstein said he had been in negotiations with Piney Woods Sanitation over the last several weeks concerning the transfer station and believed the two sides had reached a workable arrangement.

According to www.dumpsters.com, “Waste transfer stations are industrial facilities where municipal solid waste, or MSW, is temporarily held and sorted before heading to a landfill or waste-to-energy plant. Garbage trucks that run city routes drop off their trash here before it’s loaded onto larger vehicles and shipped off.”

“We have a piece of property since the closing of our recycling and our own transfer station that we haven’t been able to use. Piney Woods is wishing to use this to augment their current operations in Houston County and the city,” Angerstein said.

Piney Woods Sanitation General Manger Mike Wilson was on hand for the meeting and said, “What we are hoping for is to add a transfer station building and possibly a small office as well as some container storage. There are approximately 18 acres and we would be using the east side of that for the building and the trucks. That is where we would operate out of to deliver carts to the citizens, pick up and remove containers, along with having the transfer site available to residents.”

Dr. Fisher questioned Wilson about job opportunities and the GM said he anticipated bringing 12 or 13 jobs out to the proposed transfer station “… once we get up and running.”

After a few more minutes of discussion, a motion was made, seconded and approved to move forward with the transfer station.

The next agenda item concerned the re-opening of city facilities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We are living in changing times,” Angerstein said. “Hopefully we can be a little more proactive and less reactive when planning for city services. This was really instigated by the governor’s last executive order where masks are being mandated in areas where social distancing of six feet or more is not possible. We need, as a city, to be clear in the direction we are going and not hold an ambiguous stance. It’s important that we know and we also know how to explain this to the public.”

Angerstein explained his goal throughout the pandemic had been to be proactive and maximize city services to Crockett residents.

“I don’t want to act out of fear or paranoia, but we need to make sure we are being as safe as possible, while still getting the work done. We have tried a couple of different measures but what the public sees is what’s important as what they have come to know and expect from us. I want us to be accessible but not accessible to the virus,” he said.

As a part of this plan, Angerstein said city employees were not allowed to congregate during breaks and were only traveling one person per vehicle and wearing masks if more than one person was in a vehicle.

Sanitizing and wash stations had been established at all job sites while meetings were being conducted outside as much as possible.

“City Hall is open inside, but by appointment. We try to meet people outside, but if we need to, we open up the door and let them inside. Our water office is servicing people online as much as possible but they do have a drive-thru window to take care of water connections and things of that nature,” he said.

The municipal court is also open. People are requested to check in outside and when it is their turn to see the judge they are brought inside, one-at-a-time.  

In other matters brought before the council:

• The minutes from the June 15 meeting of the city council were approved.
• Crockett Police Chief Clayton Smith reported the police department received 496 calls for service during the month of June which resulted in 22 arrests. There were 34 traffic citations issued and 82 police reports filed.
• Crockett Fire Department Chief Jason Frizzell reported the fire department responded to 38 total calls during the month of June, which included 27 in the city. Frizzell also reported there were zero structure fires during the month of June.
• The council held their first budget workshop of Fiscal Year 2021 where capital item requests were presented by the various department heads. 

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].