The Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors decided to take the first step toward curbside garbage pick-up by voting 3-2 Tuesday to allow the drafting of a contract with the lowest bidder.

County Engineer Neal Carson said the price for residents would be $9.10 a month, amounting to $109.20 a year. The garbage service provider with whom Carson and the county attorney will be negotiating is Arrow Disposal Service Incorporated, which is based in Abbeville, Ala. The company would give out 95-gallon roll-out bins for residents in the county to place their trash.

“I cannot see… voting to keep what we have when we can’t afford it now,” said District 1 Supervisor Hank Florey. “We’ve been told on paper… that we can save $300,000 a year to go door-to-door.

“We’re $1.3 million in debt.”

The two supervisors to vote against the process of drafting the contract were District 5 Supervisor Ray Boswell and District 2 Supervisor Wayman Newell.

While Lauderdale County residents filled the Lauderdale County Raymond P. Davis Courthouse Annex for the first part of the meeting, most of them had left long before the supervisors approved the motion to draft a contract.

A majority of those in attendance left the annex after supervisors voted 3-2 not to let the public vote on whether to retain the current method of garbage disposal or switch to curbside pick-up.

Boswell and District 2 Supervisor Wayman Newell voted to allow the public referendum.

“It’s about the people that call me and ask me to vote on it, because the people want to vote,” Boswell said.

Before the crowd exited, however, they were given a chance to voice their concerns, which took both sides of the issue.

“I find it hard to believe that… a new company can come in here and set up a new business from Alabama in Meridian and be able to charge the same rate that we’re currently charging,” said Ruth Scott, who spoke in favor of a public vote and was against curbside pick-up. “I’ve had four supervisors on this board… tell me that they didn’t have a problem to putting this on a ballot for citizens to vote for.”

Other citizens felt differently on the green box system, highlighting the shortcomings of the current system in parts of the county.

“I invite every supervisor to come out to my road,” said Billy Allen. “My wife and I pick it up. Where does the garbage come from on my road? It comes out of the back end of trucks.

“We pick it up as citizens because we don’t want the filth out there; we don’t want the litter out there.”