Madison County is still handling requests from Gluckstadt citizens regarding public works and the road department as the city does not yet have these in place. However, the protocol has changed regarding how these matters are handled since Gluckstadt became a city.
The City of Gluckstadt does not anticipate having a public works or road department for at least six months to a year. Therefore, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was developed with the county to still take care of the responsibilities of collection and disposal of debris for the time being. The MOU has been approved by the county and offered to the city. It expires Sept. 30, 2023.
The city will reimburse the county for expenses relating to debris pick up, including residential vegetation, tree limbs or shrubs. The rate of $122.00 per pick up will be used to charge the city for the services provided with a maximum daily rate of $750.00 per truck or crew. The cost of fuel will be charged additionally based on that week’s average cost as purchased through the Fuelman invoice.
Madison County Supervisor Trey Baxter disagreed with the charges Gluckstadt will receive and felt the county should do more to help the new city out by not charging them until September.
“I would like to give them a little reprieve until the end of the fiscal year,” Baxter said in April 4’s meeting. “They are doing the best they can down there, and I think long term investing in Gluckstadt is going to reap rewards for the county. If we could go back to the drawing board and make this go into effect in September, that would help out tremendously.”
County Administrator Shelton Vance said the road department has been overly gracious with Gluckstadt, and other supervisors felt they had stripped down the cost to the minimum cost possible to pick up the debris. The costs were calculated based on labor, equipment and disposal. Therefore, the original costs stayed despite Baxter’s concerns. He was the only supervisor that voted against the approval of the MOU.
“There is nothing in this that is expected to be a profit or a benefit,” Vance said. “This is strictly reimbursement of costs based on the information I have.”
While Gluckstadt had previously been an area the county handled as part of the county, now that it is a city, there is a different process for Gluckstadt citizens to get their debris picked up. To request a pick up, homeowners within the municipal lines are to send an email to Gluckstadt’s City Clerk Lindsay Kellum at lindsay.kellum@gluckstadt.net. The email needs to include their name, phone number, and address including the subdivision. Requests must be made by homeowners themselves to avoid duplicate tickets.
Once the request is received, the city will immediately forward it to the county for a work order to be created. Work orders are usually completed within one to two business days though there is not a set timeframe. These requests are only for debris that cannot be picked up during regular garbage collection, and limbs need to be cut to a manageable size of five feet and under and bundled appropriately.
The process is the same for road hazards, such as potholes within Gluckstadt. For these requests, include your name, phone number, and description and location of the pothole in the email request.
The MOU will be reviewed on Sept. 30 of this year to decide if the reimbursement cost for the service needs to be increased due to inflation or prevailing costs of labor.
