A Waste Management employee uses a joystick inside the truck to hoist a recycling can into the truck Feb. 9 in Franklin.
Leeann Doerflein | Daily Journal
A town-wide contract for trash services could be coming later this year.
The town council on Thursday decided to move forward with a request for proposals and adopted a timeline for selecting a trash contractor. The timeline will allow two opportunities for residents to give input on the proposed services, both written and in-person.
Citing concerns of trash nuisances, town officials began discussing the idea of town-wide contracted trash services in January. Residents have different trash days because they can use any company; as a result, trash piles up and trash cans are always out, officials said last month. They also cited safety and infrastructure concerns that some companies residents use have missed trash days recently.
Contracting a company for trash services would “provide uniformity” and “clear up nuisance issues.” Having contracted services would also reduce the number of trash trucks driving through town and solve issues surrounding people burning their trash, officials said.
Some town officials said Thursday they are “torn” on the idea of town-wide contracted services, but decided to move forward with the process to hear from residents.
“It doesn’t hurt to move forward and see what the outcome might be, to hear what our community thinks. There are benefits to both sides, moving forward with it or not,” said Jessica Jones, council member.
Several residents came to the meeting to talk about trash after hearing the council was considering a town-wide contract. Resident and owner of DNL Trash Removal, Lisa Green is concerned that the contracted trash services would interfere with her business. The company currently provides trash services to many residents in town, she said.
“We are a small company … I’m worried, we don’t want to lose what we have,” Green said.
The town should leave the contracted services as is and target problem areas instead, she said.
Council members said they don’t want to hurt the small businesses operating trash services in town. However, the town is running into a “multitude” of issues from a lack of unity among the providers. Having this amount of trash trucks driving down the road, has also led to more street repairs and more tax burdens on residents, officials said.
Resident Peggy McCoy wants things to stay the way they are, she said. McCoy said she has not had a problem with the smaller companies but has had issues with larger companies. Residents also asked questions about homeowners associations and whether they could opt out of contracted trash services.
The council will be accepting proposals from all interested companies and will take all proposals under advisement. If members choose to move forward with a town-wide contract, the council would award a contract and hear the first reading of an ordinance to recoup costs of trash services through resident’s water/sewer bills April 18. A public hearing at which the public may submit comments on the contract to be awarded will also be held that day.
A second reading and a public hearing on the trash contract would be held May 17. If approved, the contract would take effect beginning June 1.
Residents may also submit written comments if a provider is selected. The public may comment by visiting Trafalgar Town Hall, 2770 State Road 252, during its regular hours 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
