A Waste Management truck picks up recycling from a home in Franklin. Waste Management was one company Trafalgar was considering to hire for town-wide trash collection.
Daily Journal File Photo
Trafalgar Town Council members said a town-wide trash contract will not be going forward after residents spoke against it.
Town officials have been exploring ways to take care of nuisance properties and thought a town-wide trash pickup would help. However, after residents presented a petition with around 200 signatures at the March 21 town council meeting, council members decided to abandon the idea.
The goal for contracting a company for trash services was to “provide uniformity” and “clear up nuisance issues,” town officials said in January. Now the town council is looking for other ways to address those issues short of town-wide trash collection, said Jason Ramey, council member.
Likely now, the town will have to spend “unnecessary money” to target nuisance properties, Ramey said.
“I’m not interested in forcing people to do anything or save any money. This, again was one option, not some kind of level of tyranny, it was one option brought to the council to see how can we maybe improve nuisance properties,” Ramey said during the meeting.
Residents told council members they agree there are nuisance properties, but a town-wide pickup isn’t something residents want, he said.
However, residents would have likely seen a 50% reduction in their trash bill had it been approved, Ramey said.
The trash collection idea died after a motion was made by Mike Peters to accept bids for proposals from four different companies, including D&L, Best Way Disposal, Rumpke and Waste Management. The motion died for lack of a second.
Unless councilmembers bring the motion forward again at a later time, the town-wide trash pickup will not be moving forward, said Jessica Jones, council member.
“You can’t underestimate the power of listening to your community. By prioritizing their voices and concerns, we’ve reached an outcome that respects their wishes and fosters a stronger sense of unity within our town that I hope continues to great,” Jones said. “We have an amazing council and staff that is making every effort towards improving Trafalgar and I believe this council is demonstrating our commitment to making the best possible decisions for our town.”
Before the meeting, Ramey made a post on Facebook asking residents how they felt about contracting town-wide services. Of 253 who responded, only 25 were for it.
Without trash collection, officials will likely spend more time and money, actively pursuing nuisance properties. The town may need to look into hiring a part-time code enforcement officer to help fix the problem, Ramey said.
Going forward, reporting nuisance properties is the best way to help town officials take care of them, Ramey said.
