The Troy council on Tuesday took steps to support Troy University’s efforts to implement a campus-wide recycling program.

“As you know last week we applied for a recycling grant with ADEM for $150,000 to create the Alabama Recycling Initiative,” Mayor Jason Reeves said. “Each municipality has a cap of $300,000 they can ask for. Troy University is interested in applying for the other $150,000.

The university plans to use the funds to increase their efforts in making the campus waste-free, according to Marcus Paramore, District 3.

This grant will help us get started in the initiative to make sure that everything we do is trash-free.

“This grant will help us get started in the initiative to make sure that everything we do is trash-free,” Paramore said.

“This is an effort, by the university, to get to a point where you don’t throw anything away, but you’ve got to start somewhere,” Reeves said. “If they get it, and there is no guarantee, but if they get it, it will go a long way into bringing awareness and keeping things out of a landfill and into a recycling string that has a positive economic and environmental impact.”

Supporting the university’s efforts would not add any cost to the city, Reeves said. “This would not have any out-of-pocket expense for the city, we would just act as a conduit for them,” he said.

Troy Sportsplex will also be receiving help from the city in the form of new batting cages.

Council members awarded bids to Floyd Construction and Pike Electric for the building of two new batting cage facilities at the Sportsplex.

Floyd Construction was awarded a bid of $33,980, and Pike Electric was awarded a bid of $19,000.

Reeves said the condition of the batting cage had been a concern as of late, especially during the busier travel-ball seasons.

“We’ll be able to go from one cage to seven cages,” Reeves said. “They were placed into (the department’s) capital budget, and they’re basically replacing the coin-fed cages. When we host tournaments, we just don’t have the space for people to use and these should last us a long time. (Recreation Director) Dan (Smith) and his group did a great deal of research and we feel like this is the right thing to do.”

Reeves said he was unsure what would happen to the old batting cage, but the city had discussed donating them to a school if the cages would hold up.

The council also approved a special business license for Fantazia Circus to set up at Troy Sportsplex on Thursday, Feb. 26. Smith said the circus had rented out the land before and they rec center had no issues with the circus doing so again.

The city also renewed its Family Traditions Agreement, a program run in conjunction with Troy Police Department. Police Chief Jimmy Ennis said the Police Department had distributed copies of “Eight Keys to a Better Me,” for years before partnering with the city.

“Each second-grader will be presented with a booklet,” Ennis said. “This is the second year we have done this with the city, and it is in the police budget. It’s very beneficial, and the kids seem to enjoy them. I get a lot of thank you cards back from students that they enjoyed them.”

The city also renewed the contract with Stewart Engineering. The company is not local, but Reeves said the company knew the city’s infrastructure and had worked well with the city in years past.

“The Stewarts have worked with the city for just about all my life,” Reeves said. “They know our system verywell, very capable and confident in their ability.”