OTTUMWA —
The city’s solid waste department has an outstanding bill of $30,500, but it’s through no fault of its own.
Chamness Technologies, Inc., the Eddyville company that does compost hauling for the city, submitted a bill for two years worth of hauling and mobilization charges they had not previously billed, totaling $30,500.
The contract between Chamness and the Solid Waste Commission states that Chamness will bill $15 per ton for grinding wood and yard waste and $85 per semi load for hauling, plus $125 every time the grinder is mobilized to the landfill.
“We’ve had an ongoing contract with Chamness for a number of years,” said Jody Gates, director of health, inspections and solid waste. “We hadn’t really noticed [any changes in the bill] because it depends on how much they’re grinding at any one time.”
The city doesn’t receive monthly bills from Chamness, she said, as instead they are billed per grinding.
“So the bills are always a variety of amounts,” Gates said. “Nobody had really noticed anything unusual about it, at either end.”
Chamness employees submitted bills for the grinding charges but not the hauling or mobilization charges and no one noticed the discrepancy. Now Chamness is requesting the Solid Waste Commission pay the unbilled charges.
From August 2010 to January 2012, the city paid Chamness nearly $82,000 for grinding wood and yard waste.
Gates said the department will have to pay the bill out of the landfill fund balance, which does have enough to cover the cost.
“They are going to take fault for it,” Gates said of Chamness. “I’m talking to the commission about whether we will be able to settle for a lesser amount. This is the first time this has ever happened so it was a big surprise.”
With the tree debris cleanup the city has had to do following a large June storm — a nearly $35,000 bill which the landfill footed — and the surprise of this large bill from Chamness, Gates said it’s been an unexpected year.
Local News
Two-year late bill slams city solid waste department
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