Poplarville’s Board of Aldermen discussed selling their old fire truck and other matters during Tuesday’s meeting.

The board consideration of the sale of an old fire truck to Deep South Fire Trucks centered around other outlets selling similar trucks for more than the city was offered.

Poplarville Mayor Brad Necaise said Deep South sent the city a check for $50,000 to purchase the old fire truck from the city. City Clerk Jody Stewart presented the board with quotes from other places that sell used fire trucks, determining that trucks of similar age, value and usage were selling for as much as $19,000 more than Deep South’s offer.

Poplarville Fire Chief Bobby Strahan said he did not feel the city could sell the truck for more than they already received, specifically because Deep South will perform improvement work to the vehicle before they sell it, which increases the value.

After some discussion the board approved a motion to accept the payment from Deep South. City Clerk Jody Stewart said the funds would be used to minimize the debt associated with the purchase of the city’s new fire truck.

The city also scheduled some training associated with the launch of their new recycling program.

Necaise said he has set up some training on the solar powered recycling bins for July 28. After the training he intends to release more information about the program to the public.

Poplarville High School’s Band Director submitted a request to the board to use the city park for a fund raising event scheduled for Nov. 8.

Necaise said the request listed activities and concessions but did not state if he needed officers to provide assistance with parking or security. The board decided to take the matter under advisement until they could gather additional information from the band director.

The board approved a motion to apply for $5,000 from the Small Municipalities Grant program in order to purchase signage, wastebaskets and benches for key areas of the city. The materials would be purchased from Mississippi Prison Industries, which is the same company that the city of Picayune purchased their waste receptacles and benches from.

Security for sporting events at the school district will demand a higher price. Capt. Rossie Creel with the Poplarville Police Department said the increase was based on their department’s overtime rate, which is about $25 per hour. City Clerk Jody Stewart said it will increase the cost to the school by more than $5,000 annually, to about $20,451. The board approved the increase.

Problems have been discussed with a subdivision owned by the Pearl River Valley Opportunity. When the board discussed a memorandum of understanding pertaining to Poplarville Estates, they declined the matter due to city regulations not being met. Board member Byron Wells said the problems in the past have prevented the city from accepting the subdivision, making it city property and putting its infrastructure maintenance under the city’s umbrella.

“We were going to take them in when they met all of the regulations, but they never met the regulations,” Wells said.

Wells made a motion to decline the memorandum of understanding, which was approved by the rest of the board.

Waste collection prices to the city has increased by about 30 cents per customer, however the board decided to only increase the charge to city residents by 10 cents.

Necaise said Waste Management increased their consumer price index by 2.1 percent. Stewart said that will be an increase of 27 cents. Currently the city charges $12.90 for waste collection, but that charge will now increase to $13.