Mt. Pleasant residents ask to opt out of new trash system

MT. PLEASANT — A few dozen cities flocked to the Mt. Pleasant City Council meeting Wednesday night as they aired their concerns about a new trash system intended to begin in February.

During their Dec. 13 meeting the Mt. Pleasant City Council approved a five-year contract between the city and two refuse hauling companies, WEMIGA Waste and Lance Refuse, which will require all city residents use their curbside collection services instead of the current sticker system.

A first reading for an ordinance amendment to Chapter 21 “Solid Waste” and Chapter 25 “Solid Waste Charges” of the City of Mt. Pleasant Code of Ordinances appeared on the following meeting agenda.

According to the agenda preview, “This first reading of an amendment to the Solid Waste Ordinance which sets the fees for the new solid waste collection in the city will be charged by private haulers and what the city will charge the citizens. The fees will be set at $19.75 for a 95-gallon container and $16.75 for a 65-gallon container.”

Following news of the contract approval and the amendment appearing on the agenda, several citizens discontent with the change showed up at the Dec. 27 meeting.

Many of the concerns directed to the city council over the period of a nearly two-hour discussion revolved around a desire to opt out of the new system due to concern for elderly residents and a feeling that the cost is unfair to those that don’t currently use the city trash system at all.

“Currently, I don’t participate in city garbage pickup,” resident Ron Graber said as he began the discussion with the council. “The reason I don’t is because I have access to a dumpster where I work.”

Graber explained that over the last 15-20 years he has not needed to set a bag of trash on the curb for city pick up.

“Am I wrong here, I have no option to opt out of this even though I’m not going to use this service?” Graber asked. “I do not feel that I should have to pay $200 a year for a service I do and will not ever use.”

Mayor Steve Brimhall confirmed that there is not currently an option to opt out of the service which is supposed to begin the week of Feb. 7.

“Can anybody give me a good reason I should have to pay?” Graber asked.

Graber was not alone in questions about opting out due to a lack of use of the current sticker system. Residents that use their business dumpsters, own rental properties, or do not produce much trash also asked about opting out.

Brimhall stated that he only puts out one bag of trash per week and this would increase his trash bill, as well.

“Basically, you pay for taxes that you don’t use all the time, and this is one of them,” Brimhall responded. “We had to do something different from what we were doing because of the loss of money that we were incurring.”

Graber then asked the council why county residents weren’t paying for their trash but those residing in city limits would need to.

“They’re using sales tax do it,” Brimhall explained.

Brimhall stated that the city could not fund solid waste management in the same way because their sales tax dollars are going toward infrastructure such as roads and sewers.

“We use it for capital expenditures, they use it for operating,” he said. “That’s the difference, and right now if you ask them, they’ve got to cut their budget by $1.1 million in the next four years …. Part of the reason they’re in that situation is because they’re using sales tax to pay for garbage.”

Other reasons given by the council included that many residents already use WEMIGA or Lance for their trash, raising sticker prices has historically driven more residents to the private sector anyway, and without a standard for trash collection, the amount of improperly disposed of waste will increase exponentially.

Despite these reasons, City Administrator Brent Schleisman stated near the end of the meeting that his biggest take away from the meeting was a desire from residents to be able to opt out.

“We’ll see what we can do,” he told the room.

Schleisman then asked for residents to help them as they look into it by emailing the city if they have a desire to opt out of the new system.

“I don’t know if it is 50 people or 500 people that would decide to opt out,” he said. “I have no clue nor would we know, so, that will help us.”

Landlord and resident Steve Gray specifically asked how this new system would impact rentals.

“I have to instruct my tenants what they can or can’t do or how they have to dispose of trash,” he said. “I understand that businesses will not fall under this umbrella. I have one building uptown that has seven apartments. In our downtown Mainstreet district there are over 120 apartments. How are those going to be handled?”

Schleisman stated that rentals that already provide trash for their tenant will remain the same.

When Gray pressed the question asking about upstairs apartments downtown, Schleisman said he was unsure how they would handle those, but they were working on it.

Tim Liechty, who is also a landlord in the city, asked the council to consider holding a meeting specifically for landlords to discuss the specifics of these types of situations.

Resident Lane Evans asked specifically about the money loss incurred by the current trash system and how it could be spent differently with the new trash system.

Schleisman explained that the new trash system would not inject money into the city budget as all the costs residents gain would be passed along to the companies doing the work, but it would stop the city from running in a deficit that is paid out of reserve money now.

Residents like Judy Williamson and May Swarm brought concerns to the council about the inability for elderly on a fixed income could afford the increase and lack the ability to get their trash to the curb weekly.

“I have a business out of town and I have a hair salon and of course is known for gossip,” Williamson said. “So I will tell you, there is a lot of older clientele that I do that are not able to take a garbage can and drag it down their driveway to the end of the block or whatever. They can't do it physically. I have people in their 80s and 90s that cannot do this. So, they do not use that trash service. So, have you considered what's going to happen? To all the elderly that cannot take their trash out?”

“Someone mentioned that they would come to the house and get it for another fee,” she continued. “So they've already had enough fees. And my mom was one of those I cannot physically take the trash out there, so I take it. Take it she has a bag this big, once a week. And to have a 65-gallon box is way too big. She went till about two months or three months. So have you considered all the elderly and most of them do not even know about this going on?”

Other than Brimhall stating that they may just have to pay the additional fee for the company to bring their bins down from their homes, the council did not have many answers other than encouraging those individuals to opt in to the smaller trash bins.

When Evans asked about sticker buy backs the council clarified that they’re looking into apply a credit to those individuals’ accounts, and they will release that information as it becomes available.

While most of the conversation was civil, at a few points throughout the discussion unrest could be seen in the back of the room as upset residents shifted in their seats and whispered back and forth with one another.

Toward the end of the meeting one woman expressed her concern for trash strewn about the streets with the new collection system wondering who would clean that up.

“The streets look like crap..” she said.

As she grew more flustered the resident stated that she felt the council needed to take a cut in wages and then quickly left the meeting room.

Despite her departure, Brimhall explained that the loose trash is why a requirement with setting out trash bins asks residents to put all trash in garbage bags instead of putting loose trash in the bins.

Like the trash bags, a few other housekeeping items were addressed before concluding the discussion revealed that while residents are automatically enrolled in the system with a 95-gallon bin, the letter going out encourages they reach out to change to the smaller bin by January 22.

At the meeting, however, the council announced residents will have until April 1 to opt for the smaller trash bin without paying the additional $20 fee.

They also confirmed that the appropriate trash bins would automatically be delivered to the appropriate residences before the service begins without any action needed from citizens.

Additionally, residents should be aware that the expectation is their trash bin lids close when they are placed on the curb for collection.

Once the discussion died down, the council encouraged residents to reach out with additional questions and proceeded to approve the amendment to the city ordinance as they move forward with this new solid waste collection system.

The 12-page contract with WEMIGA and Lance is available via city hall for those interested in more specifics.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com