Imker challenges street sweeping contract

Peachtree City’s approval of a $62,782 contract for street sweeping services normally would not be such a noteworthy event.

The item was, in fact, on the city council consent agenda, a list of items that are voted on as a group in large part because they are non-controversial and require little if any explanation from staff beyond the memos provided to council members in advance of the meeting.

But the street sweeping contract drew the attention of new councilman Eric Imker, and so it was pulled off the consent agenda for discussion. Imker suggested the city could benefit from purchasing its own street sweeper and handling the duties with public works employees.

Imker noted that the contract included monthly street sweeping for 16 city parking lots and approximately 73 miles of curbed streets.

Imker said he got an analysis from city staff that indicated the city could almost break even by handling the job in-house. Finance Director Paul Salvatore noted that the calculations he provided to Imker were off because he learned a larger street sweeper would be necessary for the work, and that a dump truck would have to follow behind it to collect the waste.

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