Guyton City Council wants to find out a little more about a contract pending with Republic Waste Services.

The garbage hauler’s contract with the city expires March 1, but Guyton must give Republic 60 days notice if it decides not to renew the pact.

City aldermen wanted to know about a contract rate minus a fuel surcharge and the costs of picking up and disposing of white and brown goods. White goods are items such as dishwashers, refrigerators and washing machines and brown goods refer to such things as furniture and TVs.

“I want to study the contract better,” Alderman Phillip King said.

Republic and Effingham County recently worked out a new contract for garbage service that includes a fuel surcharge. It is based on a rate of $2.75 per gallon with a quarterly average to be taken beginning July 1.

“It’s an average of the entire previous quarter,” Republic general manager Lou Diaz said. “When we put those numbers together, fuel was at $2.75 a gallon.”

If the price of fuel is 30 cents greater than or less than $2.75 once the averages are done, the fuel surcharge goes into effect. The average is taken from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Southeast published report.

With the fuel surcharge, the cost per house is $10.60 per month. Without it, the cost for each household could be $11 per month.

According to Diaz, the company charges $25 per call for white and brown good removal in Chatham and Bryan counties. From that point, it is a predetermined rate for what is to be taken.

“That’s one of the things I want to take a look at,” Mayor Michael Garvin said.

Diaz said the contract with the county also has performance standards in it and the pending deal with Guyton is similar. The contract with the county also calls for Republic to have a fleet of new trucks, to substantiate why trash isn’t picked up more than 48 hours after it was scheduled to be hauled off and cleaning up spills from trucks.

“We were promised a new truck,” King said. “I can show you at my cul-de-sac where hydraulic fluid has ruined the road.”

Republic is supposed to be getting four new trucks, Diaz said, and he added that even new trucks, because of all the moving parts, are known to leak.

If a Republic truck is leaking hydraulic fluid, the company is supposed to call in a crew from SWS that will dry up the fluid, sweep it up and then put down a residue to remove the stain, Diaz said.

Guyton City Council will go over the contract again on Dec. 26. Should Guyton not do anything, the contract automatically rolls over for a five-year extension.

“I know it’s holiday time,” King said. “But we’ve got to make a decision.”