Membership Dinner – Bartow – Ridge League of Cities

The City of Bartow hosted the Ridge League of Cities March Membership Dinner Meeting at the Bartow Civic Center on Thursday March 14, 2024. The March RLC dinner in Bartow is a decades old tradition. The accommodations, entertainment and room were beautifully presented with a St. Patrick’s Day theme and Irish dinner. A total of 214 were in attendance including 160 City Members and 54 Associate Members and guests. Twenty-one (21) of the twenty-four (24) RLC member cities were represented. The attendance report suggested that members from outside Polk County included Plant City from Hillsborough County, Zephyrhills from Pasco County, Arcadia from DeSoto County and Bowling Green, Wauchula, and Zolfo Springs from Hardee County. Thank you for coming to Polk and our County Seat. In addition to the host city of Bartow with 48 in attendance, those cities feeling the luck of the Irish in double digits included Haines City (11), Dundee (14), and Mulberry, winner of the traveling trophy with nineteen (19). Congratulations to Mulberry and thanks to all the twenty-one cities for your attendance!

We had 15 Associate Members represented and Kimley-Horn won the Associate Member traveling trophy with ten (10) team members in attendance. We appreciate all our Associate Members!

Our guest speaker for the evening was Mary Boyer, Municipal Sales Manager for Republic Services and one of our Associate Members. She gave an informative presentation of the status of recycling. Mary spoke on the trends and costs of recycling, and how to recycle better. She also invited all our member cities to visit the Republic Material Recovery Center in Lakeland to see first-hand the separation process of recyclable materials. It was a timely presentation as counties and cities weigh the costs of recycling services. Thank you, Mary and Republic Services!

It was a fun to see so much green in the room. Thank you, Bartow!