A special called meeting brought unanimous approvals of two agreements by the Baldwin City Council Thursday evening, Nov. 2. Baldwin agreed to an IGA with Alto for fire protection and with ReveSolutions for waste disposal.
Fire Service
Effective immediately, the town of Alto will now receive fire protection for the incorporated areas of Alto by the city of Baldwin. Under this IGA agreement, Baldwin will provide services to the town of Alto for a rate of $125.00 per hour per call. After two years, Baldwin may reassess and recalculate the hourly rate for these services.
For the past five years, Alto has used Habersham County Emergency Services for fire protection, but this year elected to contract with Baldwin.
“We signed with Baldwin because they are going to bill us per call only,” explains Alto’s Chief Financial Officer Lisa Turner. “Habersham wanted to continue to bill us per vehicle and per call as we have been paying them since we signed the original IGA with them.”
According to Habersham County Finance Manager Tim Sims, Alto paid $4,395 in the fiscal year 2022 for fire services from the county and $4,535 in the fiscal year 2023.
ReveSolutions
ReveSolutions waste disposal company and the city of Baldwin are now in a partnership. The agreement sets the parameters for wastewater disposal in the municipal sewer collection system. Solids from wastewater will be removed and used in a process to make compost material. ReveSolutions will pay the city for sewer usage, and the city will pay the company to accept the city’s sludge product from its wastewater treatment facility at $10.00 per dry ton.
Acting Mayor Alice Venter explained this agreement came about because the city saw significant increases at the Banks County landfill for wastewater sludge dumping. She also explained that the landfill was not going to accept the city’s sludge unless the city would de-water the sludge more to make it drier.
Venter stated, “We are really proud to enter into this agreement with ReveSolutions. It’s been a long time coming.” She adds that this agreement will “save the city money and time.”
ReveSolutions received a special use permit in May in preparation for opening a facility in the Industrial Park on land owned by the city. According to Chief Administrative Officer Emily Woodmaster, ReveSolutions began leasing the property in July at $3,750 per month. The lease agreement and the sewer use agreement are for five years.
The sewer use agreement paves the way for ReveSolutions to begin operations in the very near future.
