Fayetteville homeowners hit

this month with the first $36.40 yearly charge to fund the city's

new stormwater utility will get a slight rebate in the amount they pay

annually for garbage collection.

The city's current hauler,

Waste Management, was again the low bidder among six companies vying at

Thursday night's City Council meeting for the contract to collect

residential trash in Fayetteville, said City Manager Joe Morton.

Waste Management's monthly

proposed fee of $9.35 per household was $2.15 less than what residents

pay now, Morton said. That comes out to about $112.2 per year, a savings

of $25.80 annually over the current yearly cost of $138.

While acknowledging it wasn't

a huge break, Morton nonetheless agreed the discounted garbage bills should

help offset the extra cost for the stormwater utility. The two expenses

are unrelated, except for timing.

Meanwhile, the council voted

to move forward with the next project on the stormwater utility's

needs list, a detailed study of what it will take to shore up the dam

holding back Pye Lake, just west of Fayette County High off Hood Avenue.

According to Morton, an initial

watershed analysis of the fishing pond and earthen dam concluded that

it serves a vital role in the overall stormwater collection and runoff

in west Fayetteville.

"How much water can go

in there, and what work needs to be done to the dam to make it safe?"

said Morton. "The long-range recommendation is for the city to try

and get permanent control of the lake and dam."

The city has had temporary

jurisdiction over the privately-owned lake since last summer. In early

June, a freak overnight storm dumped record amounts of rain on the city

in just a few hours, raising concerns that the already-full lake might

burst through the weakened dam. That potential disaster was averted.

"It's been functioning

quite well," Morton said of the arrangement thus far, working with

the current property owner to shore up the fishing lake.

In other business Thursday

night, the council gave yet another reprieve to the Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse

Moose. The giant, life-size creature standing outside the restaurant on

Ga. Highway 85 near Fayette Pavilion is in violation of the city's

sign ordinance, and first came before the City Council in November. Instead

of ordering the popular photo op removed, however, city staff proposed

creating a "public art" ordinance that would include the moose

and similar features.

The ordinance was considered

in January but sent