The Jamestown City Council approved Regina Brackman to be the new councilwoman for Ward 3, filling the vacancy left by the unexpected death of Vickye James last month. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

The Jamestown City Council has a new Ward 3 representative.

On Monday, the council approved Regina Brackman to be the new councilwoman for Ward 3, filling the vacancy left by the unexpected death of Vickye James last month. The council approved Brackman during a special meeting Monday.

Last week, Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist announced that Brackman was his nominee to fill the vacancy. Sundquist said Brackman has been involved in the community as a lifelong resident, a member of the Jamestown Planning Commission, as a board member of the YWCA and on the Jamestown Juneteenth Planning Committee.

Brackman and James were close friends, which includes Brackman being Godmother to James’ daughter, Qiana “Kiki” James, who attended the press conference when the mayor announced Brackman as his nominee to fill the vacancy.

Brackman said she would be honored to continue James’ work as the representative of Ward 3. She is also planning to run in November for the Ward 3 seat during the general election.

This won’t be Brackman’s first run for the Ward 3 seat. In 2013, Brackman, the Democratic Party candidate, lost the Ward 3 race by only six votes to Republican Party candidate Tamara Dickey.

Brackman will face Republican Party candidate Robert Reedy, owner of Elite Kreations and an Air Force veteran, in the Ward 3 general election in November.

In other business, BPU officials presented a report on citywide garbage container program that will be implemented later this year. In February, the BPU approved the provider of the new garbage cans that will be issued to residential customers for the new citywide container program.

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Rehrig Pacific Company was approved to provide 15,000 solid waste containers in the amount of $830,500, with each container having RFID tags, which will also include the RFID system hardware and software.

David Leathers, BPU general manager, told the council the containers have been ordered and some have arrived. He said garbage trucks have been modified for the new solid waste containers. He added the program is scheduled to start July 1.

“We are well-positioned to move forward and implement the program,” Leathers said.

Anthony Dolce, council president, said he knows there will be some adjustments and “growing pains” with the new program. He said the BPU will be working to passing on the necessary information to the public about the new program.

Leathers said he knows not everyone will comply with the new program at the start.

“We will have to be flexible after July 1,” he said.

Last fall, BPU officials publicly started discussing the citywide container program, which will be similar to the recycling credit program started in March 2014 when orange recycling bins were issued to customers. Each customer will be issued a 95-gallon garbage can, which will include a lid. Customers who would like a smaller garbage can will be able to apply to be issued a 35-gallon instead of the 95-gallon container.

Last October, Leathers said if a customer is negligent with the garbage can and it needs to be replaced there will be a $60 charge or a $20 fee for repairs. He added that if a garbage can needs to be replaced or repaired because of normal wear and tear, the customer will not be charged. He said anyone not following the rules of the new program will be charged a fine, like if they just place a bag of garbage on the curbside.