Members of the Logan City Council and department heads discussed the need for a new garbage truck, how to pay for it and other problems revolving around city hall at the November meeting of the Logan City Council.

Street Department Director Kevin Marcum said the city's old truck was costing so much money in repairs monthly that it would probably be cheaper to buy a replacement and make monthly payments on a more reliable vehicle.

Marcum said he had two estimates on potential replacement garbage trucks from International, one was for $117,000 and the other was for $138,000.

"How bad of a shape is our truck in?" Councilman Don Browning asked.

Marcum said he felt the monthly repair bills were more than a monthly payment would be.

Councilman Tom Fink noted that two city police vehicles will be paid off by December and asked if those payments could be transferred to a new garbage truck.

City Accountant Jeff Valet said the city needed to do a rate study, considering the department needed a new vehicle and that tipping fees at the dump had gone up. Councilmembers then asked Valet to look into the feasibility of returning garbage pick up service to the FountainPlace Plaza as well.

Valet said many garbage customers had been abusing the system as well in regards to sheer amounts of trash they put out on a regular basis. Valet recommended tabling the purchase of the new garbage truck for a month until the rate study could be completed.

Councilman Greg Glick said there was a problem with parking around city hall in regards to fire trucks occasionally being blocked sometimes.

"What is ours and what is not ours?" Glick asked of the paved area around city hall.

Glick said he understood that Logan Wholesale had to get delivery trucks in and out to resupply the store and that customers had to come and go as well, but said he had received questions from citizens about the potential for problems.

Councilman Tom Fink said there were some 'no parking' signs located in the lot where people were parking anyway and said he felt that either the area needed to be enforced or the no parking restrictions removed. Fire Chief Scott Beckett said that it was often his firefighters parking in those spaces to keep large vehicles from blocking access to and from the fire station for the firetrucks.

"We just don't have enough parking around city hall," Councilman Browning said.

"We try to be good neighbors," Beckett added, noting that tractor trailers getting unloaded and the fire ladder trucks access were challenges in and of themselves.

In other City of Logan news:

• Mayor Serafino Nolletti said he was going to start a vehicle inspection program to be done monthly, making sure city vehicles were cleaned and serviced.

"It is something we have needed to do for a long time," Nolletti said.

• The city received a letter from Josh Butcher of the Midelburg Home Improvement Association thanking the city for the good work done by employees during the recent paving project and introducing the organizations current board of directors.

• City approved purchases of supplies and services amounting to $81,000. Valet noted that $26,000 of that was to the Board of Risk Management and Waste Management.