City Council will vote today on a bid for a contract with a new waste removal company that will offer more comprehensive recycling services and a pilot program for composting in the community.

DeKalb’s contract for waste removal is expiring. City staff will recommend the council take the bid from Waste Management. Public Works Director T.J. Moore said the Waste Management contract would increase residents’ monthly fee by 70 cents from $16.45 to $17.15; however, he thinks it would offer more than the current program.

“We already have a very high rate of rental on the [recycling] totes,” Moore said. “Currently, anybody that rents toters will see a decrease in their monthly fee, which is about a third of the town. They’re going to stop rentals, and these are now part of the basic program.”

Moore said people will be able to recycle more with the carts that would be offered as part of Waste Management’s services. The contract will also include a pilot program for community-wide composting services.

City Manager Mark Biernacki will present a report on the process of appointing a new city manager to ensure the city’s aldermen-elect will be prepared for the appointment.

With Biernacki stepping down June 14, council members will start to search for a replacement immediately upon inauguration. The decision that must be made in order to start the search is whether the city will use an external search firm to find the new manager.

“Essentially, the option is whether to conduct the search using internal staff resources to do so or to use an external search firm much the way the county did for their administrator…,” Biernacki said. “Depending upon the scope of services they would like from an external search firm, if they go in that direction, the cost would be in the range of $20,000 to $25,000 based upon our experience with that area.”

Biernacki said it will probably be four to six months before a new city manager is seated.

Council will also vote on the purchase of antennas and cabling for the communications tower on the new police station. Staff will recommend the council make the $38,173.96 purchase.

Staff is also recommending the city make amendments to the TIF districts by removing properties owned by fourth ward alderman-elect Robert Snow and a property first ward alderman David Jacobson plans to purchase.

In the Committee of the Whole, the City will review a request from Bill and Joy McMahon for $355,000 in TIF forgivable loans and grants. Economic development consultant Roger Hopkins said the TIF money would account for about 20 percent of the total project cost and meet the city’s guidelines for this kind of financing.

Pappas Development, LLC is making a similar request for a $628,000 TIF forgivable loan to convert the former Small’s Furniture City property, 2211 Sycamore Road, to a restaurant or retail center.

“What Pappas will offer are spaces of 3,000, 4,000 or 6,000 square feet, and for those, there are only one or two that aren’t available that aren’t already spoken for,” Hopkins said.

The council will also look at a pilot program converting multi-family residences into single-family homes.