Hopkinsville City Council approved the next fiscal year’s budget on second reading and heard an update regarding the city’s recycling program after hearing support from a handful of community members.
Four residents came up to the podium at Tuesday night’s meeting to express their support for the recycling program after Hopkinsville Solid Waste General Manager Tony Sicari announced at the June 7th city council meeting that the program was “unsalvageable” and they would stop providing service the first of July.
Sara Brechwald said canceling the recycling program would send the wrong message to new businesses and families wanting to move to Hopkinsville.
click to download audioA newcomer to the city, Reverend Stephen Spicer said recycling was one of the things he looked at when he moved to Hopkinsville.
click to download audioExecutive Director Carter Hendricks with the South West Kentucky Economic Development Council said recycling is vital to existing industries and one of the main criteria requests from new industries wanting to locate here.
During Sicari’s update, he said that solid waste and the recycling program do not operate on taxpayer dollars, which is one of the biggest misconceptions he wanted to address.
click to download audioAfter hearing from the citizens since his announcement earlier this month, Sicari said the solid waste board wants them to take a step back 30- to 60-days and come up with a viable plan for the recycling program. During this time, he added they will continue to pick up recycling from customers.
The recycling program currently has around 700 customers out of a population of 11,000. Sicari said his goal for the recycling program is 4,500 to 5,000 customers and he needs residents and businesses to help spread the word about the program.
After Sicari’s update and hearing the monthly financial statement for May, the council took care of some business items on the agenda, including approving the $43.1 million dollars Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget on the second reading along with the $1.8 million capital budget on second reading.
