Radcliff council approves garbage franchise, reviews employee health insurance bids

The Radcliff City Council met for their second meeting of the month Tuesday.

Radcliff Chief Financial Officer Chance Fox discussed the city’s bidding for a new employee healthcare insurance provider. Mayor JJ Duvall said the city had claims they have not normally had this year, so current provider UnitedHealthcare informed the city rates would be increasing. Fox said the city decided to shop around to reduce the financial impact.

“There will be some impact to the budget,” Fox said. “I don’t think it would be a major impact to the budget, but it’s something that, because the council obviously approves the budget, something you need to be aware of, and we’re looking at a six month window since we’re coming up on the second half of the budget, and that’s when the policy would renew, and then any additional consideration the city might have we would just allocate and blend into the 2025-2026 budget.”

The city is recommending coverage from Anthem, which would carry a rate increase of about 22.2 percent from current rates but would save about $68,000 from the proposed renewal with United. The council will discuss the proposed bid at their next meeting.

The council approved awarding the city’s solid waste franchise to Green River Waste. Members of the council said in addition to a lower rate, they appreciated the presence of a local office that Green River included in the bid. Mayor Duvall said as the franchise has been held by Waste Management for more than two decades, residents should anticipate a transition period.

“Anyone that thinks it’s going to be a 100 percent transition day one is probably not a realistic view,” Duvall said. “I know the garbage companies will say ‘yeah, we can make it happen,’ and I hope you do, but at the end of the day, I think there’s going to be hiccups. There’s going to be days that people are used to pulling their dumpster or their cans out on Monday, and now it’s on Thursday, and so there’s going to be some hiccups.”

In other meeting news, the council approved an ordinance consolidating the city’s property tax rates and collection procedures into one ordinance on its second reading. The council also approved a zoning change for 408 Shelby Avenue in the Skyview Estates subdivision from R-6 to R-4.

The Radcliff City Council will next meet December 9.