Pelham residents should see a reduction in their garbage bills beginning in October, after the City Council voted unanimously to change the city’s trash collection provider during its Aug. 2 meeting.

During the meeting, the council agreed to enter into a three-year agreement with Birmingham-based Advanced Disposal, which will begin providing citywide garbage and recycling collection Oct. 1.

The city’s current garbage and recycling contract with Waste Management, which has been providing the city’s garbage collection service for more than two decades, is set to expire on Sept. 30.

Because Advanced Disposal will charge less per month for standard collection than Waste Management, most Pelham residents should begin seeing a lower bill in October, said Councilwoman Teresa Nichols.

“It will go down from $13.21 monthly to $9.99 monthly for most people, so it will be a savings of $3.22 per month,” Nichols said.

Advanced Disposal will charge a $9.99 collection fee for tier 1 residential service, which will include one 96-gallon garbage receptacle and one 65-gallon covered recycling receptacle. Tier 2 service, which includes two garbage receptacles and one recycling receptacle, will be $14.99 per month.

The company will charge $17.99 per month for tier 3 service, which will be charged if a resident asks Advanced Disposal employees to collect the garbage from behind a residence. Anyone who is physically unable to bring their trash receptacles to the curbside will only be charged for tier 1 service.

In the past, Pelham officials have “piggybacked” Shelby County’s contract with Waste Management, said Pelham Mayor Don Murphy. But Advanced Disposal Area Sales Manger Roberto Rodriguez, a Pelham resident, said he had been asking the city to consider bidding out its garbage collection service for several years.

“We really wanted to try and bid it out last year, but we all got here so late (in the budget process) that we weren’t able to get to it,” Murphy said. “So this year we figured it wouldn’t hurt to bid it out, so we did.

“It turned to be a good deal for everyone,” Murphy added.

The contract will also save Pelham about $1 million over the next three years, Rodriguez said.

Throughout the three-year contract period, Advanced Disposal will be picking up 18 recyclable items, which the company will collect each week.

For a complete list of recyclable items the company will pick up, and to get more details about the new garbage collection service, see the Aug. 7 edition of the Pelham Reporter.

In other business, the council:

– Accepted a $2.2 million bid from Cardinal Southeast Inc. to construct a new chemical feed building for the Pelham Sewer Department.

The project will be funded in the 2011 budget year with Sewer Department reserve funds. The cost of the capital improvement project eventually will be offset by increased sewer fees, which the city will begin charging residents and businesses Jan. 1, 2011.

– Accepted a $25,751 bid from Decatur-based NAFECO to purchase extraction equipment for the Pelham Fire Department.

The cost of the equipment will be covered by a Homeland Security grant, said Fire Chief Danny Ray.

– Voted unanimously to reappoint Billy Crandall to the Pelham Planning Commission, reappoint Joseph Myers to the Pelham Library Board, appoint David Yeager to the Industrial Development Board and appoint Paula Sutton to the Pelham Beautification Board.