Sanitation seeks new loaders, materials handler, additional routes and staff as city growth raises service load; diversion at 58%

Sanitation & Environmental Services (SES) Director Nate Ridley presented the department’s FY26 budget and program enhancement requests on March 20, reporting service volumes, recruitment successes and a suite of equipment and staffing requests tied to city growth.

Ridley said SES serves about 27,000 service points in the city and handles roughly 73,000 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) annually, about 2,700 tons of recycling (sent to Marshall County for processing) and about 1,400 tons of yard waste. He said the department completed an entry‑level driver program that has produced trained drivers and helped reduce hiring costs.

Ridley and Operations Manager Wayne Sullivan listed priority program enhancement requests (PERs): a materials handler to improve throughput and reduce visual emissions at the burn yard/Air Curtain Destructor (ACD), replacement of an 11‑yard mini packer with a mini automated side loader for narrow alleys, replacement of aging road tractors and loaders, two additional automated side‑loaders to support a seventh residential route, a replacement forklift (current unit is roughly 25 years old with obsolete parts), and a new walking‑floor trailer to transport recycling and other loads (lead times for trailers were described as roughly 12 months).

Sullivan explained the materials handler request as a way to avoid repeated shutdowns of the ACD that occur when ash and materials pile in the center of the box and create excessive visual emissions; a materials handler would allow staff to “cherry pick” and place material to maintain continuous, compliant burns and higher throughput. He said the materials handler would also serve as a versatile loader for transfer tasks if other equipment is down.

Staff noted delivery lead times have lengthened for major equipment; SES is still awaiting some items ordered previously. Ridley said the capital budget line shown as $0 for FY26 in the committee slideshow is provisional and will be adjusted once vendor delivery schedules are known and pending decisions on PERs.

Committee members asked about diversion and vehicle counts; Ridley said the city’s recycling participation/diversion is about 58 percent and agreed to provide a historical chart of container counts and diversion rates after the meeting. Ridley and Sullivan emphasized the requests were tied to keeping routes reliable and safe as the city grows and to improving efficiency and environmental compliance at the burn yard.

All requests were presented for committee consideration; no formal budget votes were taken at the meeting.