The Moultrie City Council is considering a proposal to replace an in-ground garbage collection system — including the liner in foreground and a pail, center — with a roll-out container, background.

Three residents approached Moultrie City Council Tuesday night to speak in support of in-ground garbage containers.

The council has heard in recent meetings about the benefits of a roll-out container system, which promises to save an estimated $700,000 over ten years.

All three emphasized their opinion that the in-ground system looks better.

“Nothing’s going to look worse than going down South Main and seeing a bunch of garbage cans sitting out,” said Faye Fussell, who lives on Ivey Lane.

Fussell said her previous house had an alley, where a roll-out container could be pushed to the curb and remain hidden, but her current residence doesn’t. She knows of other areas where garbage cans would have to be put right in front of the house on pick-up day.

“How tacky is that going to look with that green thing sitting out front?” she asked.

The Rev. Rufus Jolly, who lives on Third Street, said he doubted the savings, in part because of the cost of the new system, which would involve purchase of more than 4,000 roll-out containers, removal of the existing in-ground containers, and eventually a new garbage truck with a lift that can be operated from within the cab.

“Even if it’s over a five- or 10-year period, that’s cost,” he said.

Some of the projected savings will come from a reduction in workman’s comp claims by the garbagemen who have to lift and carry heavy bags of garbage and throw them into the truck, but Jolly said the city’s had only 17 workman’s comp claims in the last several years. Pressed to respond, City Manager Mike Scott agreed with that figure.

Those points — aesthetics and costs — also came out in a presentation by former City Councilman Henry Klar, who lives on Old Tram Road.

“I know how difficult it is for you to vote no on a proposal to save money,” Klar said. Then he offered several reasons councilmen should do that very thing:

• When the city council voted to install the current system, members must have wrestled with the same problems, but they decided the in-ground system was worth the expense because it would make the city look so much better.

• The initial purchase of 4,100 containers at $60 each would total $246,000, and it would take the city 3-1/2 years of the new system to break even on that expense alone.

• Some of the roll-out containers will be visible at all times because not everyone has a garage to hide it in.

• Removing the present system will take two years, based on the Public Works Department’s own proposal. It would present issues of cost, effort and debris.

• The purchase of a new, automated garbage truck in three years (as proposed by Public Works) would be an additional expense.

• A significant part of the savings would come from elimination of six temporary worker positions, which would save both wages and health benefits. “It seems like we have enough unemployment without adding to it,” Klar said.

• When the issue was last considered in 2009, the council voted to increase utility bills (which include the garbage collection fee) by $2.50 rather than going to the roll-out container. In five years — about the end of 2014 — that fee will have brought in $625,000 … which is just short of the $700,000 projected savings of the roll-out system at the 10-year mark.

Klar said while he was on the city council (1976-1984), another proposal came up that was very similar. By changing something the city had done for years, it could cut expenses significantly. That proposal was to stop hanging the downtown Christmas lights.

“Just because nobody else has Christmas lights, or everybody else has roll-out containers, doesn’t mean that’s what we ought to do,” he said.

In other action Tuesday, the board:

• Approved a temporary alcoholic beverage license for the Colquitt Regional Medical Foundation Gala on March 27 at the Colquitt County Arts Center.

• Approved a business license for Luther Landrum, doing business as L&L Game Room, 304 MLK Drive N.W.

• Approved amendments to the Peddlers Ordinance, the ordinance governing panhandling; and the disorderly conduct ordinance.

• Recognized April 13-19 as Georgia Cities Week.

• Designated April 14-18 as Annual Spring Cleanup Week.

• Gave permission to the John Benning Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution to plant a tree at Westview Cemetery.