The Picayune Separate Municipal School District Board of Trustees approved a motion to accept a bid for waste disposal services during Tuesday’s meeting.
Several companies submitted bids, but only two included the requested proof of liability insurance.
Team Waste turned in a bid for $10,045 per month to collect waste from all of the district’s locations while Waste Management turned in a bid of $12,657 per month for the same service. They were the only two companies to submit the requested proof of insurance.
Bids were also received from Waste Pro , Waste Connections and Boudin’s Waste, but they did not provide the proof of insurance with their bids, so the bids were not totaled.
Due to the high cost of the two bids that complied with the request, the Board asked Board Attorney Gerald Patch if they could consider the other bids, provided the proof of insurance was turned in at a later date.
After the Board tabled the matter, Patch left the meeting to review the state code, later determining that so long as the proof of insurance is submitted, the other bids could be considered, Assistant Superintendent Brent Harrell said.
The Board then approved the bid from Boudin’s Waste for $5,625 per month, which was a decrease from the current contract they had with the same company for $6,278 per month.
Earlier in the meeting, Xavier Dedeaux spoke to the Board about his 16th section lease with the district. He was concerned because his lease went up by 100 percent from the previous year. Last year he paid $540 per year for the lease on his business to be on 16th section land. This year the bill totaled $1,056. The Board told Dedeaux that they would take his request under advisement and have an answer for him the next day.
Later in the meeting the Board discussed the 16th section commercial leases. District Finance Director Lisa Persick said she set the leases at six percent of the fair market value as allowed by state law. However, state law allows the district to charge a minimum of five percent. Board members suggested that if a change was made to one lease, it should apply to all.
Persick said two of the district’s four commercial leases have already been paid, so if the Board decided to make that change, she could just apply the difference to their accounts for the following year.
The Board approved a motion to lower the leases to five percent of the fair market value, bringing Dedeaux’s lease down to $880.
The next meeting will be Aug. 23 at noon in the district office on Goodyear Boulevard.