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By JOYANNA LOVE | Managing Editor

The Maplesville Town Council approved the bid of Burnett Garbage Service in Clanton to provide garbage pickup for the town at its Aug. 8 meeting.

The current garbage pickup contract ends in November.

Cost to residents will be $29 per month with $2 of this going to the town.

Billing will be handled by Burnett Garbage Service.

Each resident will be allowed to put out two garbage cans, which the resident will provide. All trash must be in bags.

Two bids had been received. The other bid from Martin Environmental Services of Dothan was $30 a month with an extra charge for having two cans.

Council members were able to ask both company representatives questions.

The council went into executive session to discuss the two bids prior to the vote. When the council came back into session, the vote to approve Burnett Garbage Service was unanimous.

Town Clerk Dawn Smitherman said the majority of the businesses in town have individual agreements with a company for garbage pickup, so any agreement between a business and Burnett Garbage Service needs to be worked out by them.

The council also approved moving forward with an updated contract to provide an SRO for Maplesville High School for the regular school year. Board of Education President Pam Price said the school system would be paying the town $47,000 toward the officer’s salary.

Police Chief Riley Barnett also made the council aware of the emergency hire of Justin Smitherman as a part-time officer. Hiring Patrick Young as a part-time officer was approved during the meeting.

Barnett also received approval to advertise for job openings that the department had.

Updates to a section of the police department’s directives manual dealing with use of force was also approved.

“Some of the key points are no choke holds, no hog-tying people, stuff like that,” Barnett said. “I wanted to spell out what not to do.”

A specific form will also be required to be completed anytime “they go hands-on with somebody,” Barnett said. “… I will look into all these reports I get and make sure it was handled correctly.”

He said he will be reviewing the whole manual and making recommendations on changes as needed.

“We want to make sure there is no gray area in this manual,” Barnett said.

The Maplesville Fire Department received approval for Will Wright and Michael Drewry to join as volunteers.

Smitherman updated the council that the American Rescue Plan Act funding that the council had received toward the storm shelter had been spent, and the Cawaco Resource Conservation and Development Council funds toward the project had been received. The town still needs to run power lines to the site.