Changes to the county’s trash pickup service were discussed at the Long County Commission Monday.

In September, the commissioners in a split vote contracted with AllGreen Services to take over pickup in 2019.

AllGreen executive Sam Sullivan updated commissioner Monday. The company will begin servicing trash collection routes on the first contract day, Jan. 1, 2019. The company will start distributing new carts and informational flyers on Dec. 10. Residents should note this process will take about two weeks, and should not use the new cans until the old Republic cans have been picked up, according to county officials. Republic will begin picking up the old cans after Christmas.

Residential customers will continue to pay $156 per year to the county. Sullivan said if any customers were unsure of the pickup schedule they should go ahead and put their carts at the curb: “When in doubt put it out.”

AllGreen should have a placard attached to the cans with the new trash pickup schedule.

Trash pickup had been the subject of frequent complaints against Republic Services, the county’s current contractor. The commissioners awarded the 2019 contract to AllGreen although Republic had offered a lower price, $11.39, back in September.

In September when the vote was taken, Commissioner Robert Parker and Commission Chairman David Richardson had voted against the AllGreen bid. Commissioners Mike Phillips, Mike Riddle and Clifton DeLoach were in favor.

The commissioners gave conditional approval to Phase III of the Way Station Subdivision in the Elim Church Road area. Developers said some required paving had not been done and some transformers needed to be placed while requesting approval.

Richardson said, “I really don’t think it’s a good idea . . .” to sign off on the subdivision when all work had not been done, but Parker moved to grant the approval contingent on the work being completed by the next regular meeting, scheduled for Dec. 4. Three commissioners agreed, with Richardson voting no. Commissioner Clifton DeLoach was absent from Monday’s meeting due to illness. This was the first meeting DeLoach missed in almost 20 years, according to Long County Administrator Franklin Etheridge.

The commission unanimously adopted a $9.5 million annual budget for the current fiscal year beginning in July 2018. Long County had been operating under a continuing budget resolution based on last year’s spending levels while no budget was in effect.

Long County School Superintendent Dr. Robert Waters attended the meeting for a check presentation ceremony. The commissioners facilitated $150,000 from the Georgia Department of Transportation that was allocated for construction of the new school entrance road from Highway 84.

Hofstadter and Associates was hired to provide a Community Development Block Grant application for Long County. CDBG grants are limited to a maximum of $750,000.

Etheridge said the county could possibly save an estimated $36,000 annually by using the services of the Spyglass telecommunications consulting firm. Spyglass audits telephone service and identifies ways of saving money on phone bills.