The Orange City Council bought a new grapple truck Tuesday as part of the effort to clean the city. The truck cost nearly $200,000 and the council previously decided to include it in the new budget, which started October 1.
Public Works Director Jim Wolf said the Peterbilt chassis truck will have a bed to hold 30 cubic feet. The two grapple trucks the city currently owns hold 24 cubic feet.
Mayor Larry Spears Jr. gave credit to District 1 Councilor Pat Pullen for the idea of an extra grapple truck to clean up large amounts of discarded trash.
The city’s two grapple trucks have schedules to pick up limbs, discarded furniture and other items from every residence once a month. The schedules have been disrupted because of Tropical Storm Harvey debris, but are now becoming routine again.
However, large amounts of household trash like discarded furniture have been set outside of some houses. Most of the large piles are left by landlords who have evicted tenants and then thrown items in the house along the street.
During budget workshops in the summer, the council learned the city has to re-direct the grapple trucks to pick up the unsightly trash. The grapple trucks then get behind on the regular pickup schedules.
People with discarded household goods should contact the city to pay for a special pickup of the trash.
The new grapple truck is costing $191,158 through a government purchasing co-op of the Houston-Galveston Area Council.
The council also voted to buy a new Ram Jet Rodder for $66,979 from Kinlock equipment through the H-GAC. The rodder will be used to clean trash and debris from storm sewers and driveway pipes to help improve drainage.
Interim City Manager Kelvin Knauf invited Pinehurst Mayor Pete Runnels and City Administrator Robbie Hood, along with Jason Lawson, the administrator of the Orange County Water and Improvements District 2 (West Orange), to the meeting to thank them for helping Orange. He said two weeks ago, Orange had a boil water notice because of line problems. The two entities helped Orange get water flowing to customers.
“I think it’s a tremendous example of regional cooperation,” Knauf said.
Hood stood before the council and said “We’re all in this together. What’s good for Pinehurst is good for Orange, and what’s good for Orange is good for Pinehurst.”
Mayor Spears called Orange, Pinehurst, and West Orange “the Golden Triangle within the Golden Triangle.”
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
The post Orange Thanks Pinehurst, West Orange appeared first on KOGT.