Supervisors and Mayor Discuss Ending Recycling for Sigourney Residents

SIGOURNEY – During the Jan. 27 meeting of the Keokuk County Board of Supervisors, the board spoke with Sigourney Mayor Jimmy Morlan about the recycling center south of Sigourney. The recycling center is maintained by the county and open to rural residents, but the City of Sigourney currently pays $1,900 per month to allow Sigourney residents to use it. Morlan stated that only 100 Sigourney households utilize the recycling center and that the city is considering not renewing the contract. He stated that, if Sigourney residents are passionate about recycling, they could buy bags and recycle themselves. Supervisor Daryl Wood stated that this leads to problems with private citizens increasing the amount of recycling, while the county still pays to maintain the center, and that it would be easier to not allow Sigourney residents to use the recycling center. Morlan asked if the center could possibly offer the city a lower rate; Supervisor Michael Hadley stated that would be up to Cox Sanitation and that they probably wouldn’t.

Also at the Monday meeting, the board met with the heads of various departments to discuss their budgets. Most of the budgets featured slight increases for the costs of different line items.