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An ordinance change that would essentially codify allowing what is already happening to occur with regard to automated curbside garbage pickup passed its second reading during Monday night's city council meeting, but not before one councilor raised more questions about its wording and ultimately voted against the motion presented.
After Mayor Pro Tem Mike Ladehoff asked for council comments, Councilor Gary Thompson said he was asked by one of the haulers for clarification on three items. The first was a paragraph barring collection of any items placed outside of an approved receptacle.
"If we're going to have ordinances that we can't enforce and aren't going to enforce, basically what that's saying is anything that's in a bag next to their garbage can not only is a possible fine for the homeowner but a fine for the hauler if he picks it up," Thompson said.
Ladehoff responded that his own opinion was to leave the current wording in and make it clear to the haulers that both they and their customers can get in trouble if garbage is not placed fully within the container. When he recalled being shown pictures of bags being placed beside receptacles, City Clerk Alicia Hunter added that her hauler requires her recycling to be bagged and outside of the receptacle, so that could be the case for others as well.
Public Works Director Heather Thomas said the issue was discussed "at length" during a meeting with the haulers that Thompson and two other councilors attended, and in her understanding, she felt the haulers wanted the language left in as it was.
"They also do not want, on a regular basis, the residents in Marshalltown to have garbage bags outside of the receptacle. They do understand there are instances, possibly after a birthday party, Christmas, those kinds of things, when there's extra material that does not fit in a toter," Thomas said. "The haulers that we spoke to requested that the residents call them ahead and let them know that they have extra. They are all charged for having extra."
She added that the ordinance includes language allowing for one-time pickup with 12 hours to set garbage aside. Recalling the meeting with haulers, Thompson said they're going to pick up garbage regardless if it's out and called the wording "an issue that's contradictory."
Another issue he raised was the garbage being picked up "on average of one time per week" as some elderly and single individuals only have their trash taken every other week. Fellow Councilor Gabe Isom felt the word "on average" addressed the concern and allowed flexibility. Thomas agreed, noting that the language previously required pickup a minimum of once per week but was changed to "on average" to accommodate the one hauler allowing the less frequent pickup for low-volume users.
Thompson indicated he was OK with that change before adding his final concern, the requirement of using "packer type trucks" as one of the haulers uses two pickup trucks. Thompson said the hauler suggested changing the language to require that a "primary" truck is a packer and not necessarily that all of them have to be packers.
"I don't know how you want to approach this, but this is one where earlier last year, we specifically made this so a new hauler couldn't come on board that did not have a compactor truck, and now we're gonna change this and tell an existing hauler that he's not gonna use his two pickups," he said. "So this one, of the three, needs a little more clarification."
Ladehoff believed there was discussion about a hauler that would come in "on special occasions" every once in a while or to pick up for someone they missed, and in those instances, a pickup would be permissible. Thompson worried that a loophole could be created if a garbage service didn't specifically tell customers which day their trash would be picked up and used a pickup truck.
"The real issue is we have a hauler that has two trucks. He admitted to me he does use them on a regular route, so I don't know how you wanna address this," he said.
Thompson was curious if the issue had been cleared up during the hauler meeting, which Councilors Jeff Schneider and Barry Kell also attended along with Thomas, and she said that while she wasn't entirely sure, she felt the intent was using a packer type truck on standard, normally scheduled routes on a week to week basis even as multiple haulers admitted to sometimes using other types of vehicles.
Thompson then indicated he was OK with letting it slide if the hauler was told that trucks were not being used in the regular route. Schneider had a chance to comment and reiterated the idea that at the present time, nothing was really changing as the city was just codifying the allowance of curbside pickup. The issue first came up when Moler Sanitation of Conrad began offering an automated option that requires containers to be placed at the curb for those who utilize it, which went against the current city code requiring receptacles to be near residences.
"There will be future ordinances changing that we will have set days for every street. The city is working on that with the haulers. We will establish a set pickup day, so the curbside garbage will only be there once per week," Schneider said. "If the cans are left the next day or any other day, you will be fined. In the background, we're also working on our ordinance enforcement mechanisms to give ourselves a little more teeth, if you will, to enforce these ordinances, so there are more changes coming."
Thompson also sought to clarify that every hauler will still offer pickup at the house. Thomas said two of the haulers are planning to offer curbside pickup, while the other two will continue to only offer house pickup.
With no public comments, the council proceeded to vote 6-1 to pass the second reading, with Thompson as the lone dissenter.
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Contact Robert Maharry
at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or
rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.