A new solid waste service agreement offering reduced rates for Crestwood residents was unanimously approved recently by the Board of Aldermen.

The board approved an ordinance awarding a three-year contract to Meridian Waste Services. The contract will take effect April 1 and run through March 31, 2014, with the option of a two-year extension to March 31, 2016.

Director of Public Works Dzenana Mruckovski recommended Meridian as the lowest and best bidder out of five companies that submitted proposals for residential solid waste pickup.

Meridian will provide once per week unlimited solid waste collection, recycling up to 65 gallons and unlimited yard waste. The agreement also continues the Senior Citizen/Disabled Residents Program.

Households will pay $17.75 per month for the first year of service, and the cost will increase each April 1 for the duration of the agreement: $18.28 for 2012, $18.83 for 2013, $19.40 for 2014 and $19.98 for 2015.

Residents currently pay $19.55 per month to Republic Services, or Allied Waste. The company bid for the new contract, offering a monthly charge of $20.14 per residence for the first three years and $21.06 per residence for the optional two-year extension.

The other three bidders, along with their first-year monthly rates, were: IESI, $18.26; Waste Management, $18.90 and American Eagle Waste Industries, $20.

Bids were opened Nov. 30.

In other business Jan. 25, the board:

• Voted unanimously to approve a one-year extension on the city’s contract with Lifeguards Unlimited Inc. to manage the Aquatic Center in Whitecliff Park for the 2011 season.

The contract, which took effect in 2009, provides for three one-year extensions through 2012 at the city’s discretion. The 2011 extension will cost the city $193,056, according to Recreation Manager Todd Stover.

• Voted 6-2 to approve an ordinance amending the 2011 city budget to include the remaining design costs for the Whitecliff Park Service Bridge reconstruction project.

Ward 2 Alderman Jeff Schlink and Ward 3 Paul Duchild voted against the amendment, which shifted $52,230 in revenues and $65,287 in expenditures related to the project that were budgeted in 2010 to the 2011 budget.

The board voted 6-2 in September 2009, with Schlink and Duchild opposed, to award a $118,850 contract to CDG Engineers for design services for the reconstruction of the Whitecliff Park Service Bridge over Gravois Creek.

The service bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in November 2007 after a Missouri Department of Transportation inspection. The following month, the city received a MoDOT grant that will offset 80 percent of the new bridge’s design and construction costs.

Using that grant, the city will pay nearly $24,000 of the $118,850 needed to design the new bridge and roughly $120,000 of the $600,000 estimated cost to construct it.

In total, the city will pay roughly $144,000 on the estimated $720,000 project.

Schlink and Duchild have contended the new service bridge proposed is not the most cost-effective option available to the city.

CDG as of Dec. 31 has billed the city $53,563 for design services, leaving $65,287 to be paid in 2011. Of that amount, $52,230 will be reimbursed through the grant.

Officials said CDG is expected to complete its work within the next two months, and bridge construction should be bid out in May.