T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Area Sanitation Owner Wade Lamb runs a garbage route on West Church Street last week. Area is one of four haulers licensed to provide residential service in Marshalltown, and city leaders are conducting a solid waste study to determine whether any changes to the current open market system of trash collection are desired.

The future of trash hauling in Marshalltown has been discussed at several city council meetings over the last year, and now, city leaders are asking residents to complete a brief online survey to determine their preferences and whether any minor or major changes are desired going forward.

During a recent interview, City Administrator Carol Webb told the T-R that two primary factors are driving the study, which is being conducted in partnership with Iowa State University: the impact of garbage trucks on roads and whether residents have the tools available to dispose of their waste and junk as a result of efforts to deal with nuisance complaints.

“Council wants to make sure that all residents have an avenue to dispose of that type of thing. There’s no preconceived notions among council members of what the outcome will be,” Webb said. “I think they really just want to learn a little bit more about ‘Are residents aware of their options? Do they have existing trash service? Are they getting the services that they need to manage their solid waste to begin with?’ Some people don’t have the means to self-haul things to the landfill, so how do we best serve those folks? Are the private haulers a bulky waste pickup? Could the city offer more in that vein to help citizens get rid of their stuff? So I think council’s just looking at all options.”

According to Webb, who previously served as city administrator in the similarly-sized community of Muscatine, there is no “standard practice” on which system works best, and it ultimately boils down to what constituents prefer. Marshalltown currently utilizes an open market system with four licensed haulers offering residential pickup within city limits: Area Sanitation, LeGrand Sanitation, Moler Sanitation and Prairie Waste Solutions (formerly known as Stone Sanitation). Back in February, the council voted 5-2 to deny a garbage and refuse license request from Eldora-based Knight Sanitation, with those opposed citing the ongoing study as one of the primary reasons.

Other options would include making trash pickup a city service or moving to a system of trash districting, where haulers would be assigned to specific areas of town.

“When I worked in Fort Collins (Colorado), we had the same open market system, and the city wanted to look toward a more trash districting type of model. But people really prefer, at least they did in that community, selecting their own hauler, so different communities have different preferences that way,” Webb said. “I don’t think the intent is to force something on the community, that, really, they don’t want. The survey was designed to sort of get at that preference and better understand… Some people have really strong opinions about their waste hauler.”

Because of a rise in automated hauling services, the council recently changed city code to allow for curbside pickup, but some haulers will still come up near the house to pick up a receptacle. The survey can be found online at https://iastate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4JIKxO7re7IGmeW, and responses will be collected until July 17. It consists of 13 multiple choice questions and is estimated to take between five and seven minutes to complete.

The T-R reached out to all four of the current haulers for their thoughts on the survey and any potential changes to the system, and at presstime, LeGrand Sanitation declined comment while Prairie Waste had not responded. Moler Sanitation, which is based in Conrad, has been licensed in Marshalltown since 2013, and Owner Gabe Stone told the newspaper that he supports the current system in place with a few suggestions for minor changes.

“I believe the current ‘open market’ or ‘subscription based’ service works very well. In my opinion, it is the best overall system. It supports the free-market enterprise model, it allows freedom of choice for the consumer, and it keeps competition and service levels set at a high standard. We have four great haulers here in Marshalltown who are local, family owned and operated businesses, each offering a different level of service, customer care and overall service experience,” he said. “In my opinion, some possibilities for improvements would be to strengthen our licensing requirements alongside adopting an ordinance change to limit the number of haulers licenses issued to maximize and help streamline the efficiency of collections between the haulers.”

He also weighed in on the idea that garbage trucks are damaging the city’s streets.

“It is difficult to agree that it is just garbage trucks that are the only vehicles that are hard on the roads. There is constant traffic in every part of town, ranging from heavy commercial trucks delivering goods and necessities and providing home services, semi-trailers being towed with heavy loads to and from factories and facilities, construction and heavy equipment around town providing improvements to infrastructure where needed, and school buses during the school year dropping and picking students up for daily activities,” Stone said. “Being in the Midwest, all these things coupled with having to plow snow in the winter along with the freeze and thaw cycles of the spring and fall are all contributors to the barrier of road improvements.”

The Lamb family, who own Area Sanitation and have provided garbage service in Marshalltown for over 50 years, expressed their support for the current system in a statement to the T-R and worried that awarding a single citywide contract would effectively put them out of business.

“Marshalltown is not unique in allowing an open market for service, and we feel it is important to continue an open market because it drives companies to provide the best service possible at the lowest rate that can be offered,” they said. “If the city goes with a bidding process, there is no guarantee jobs and wages will stay local. Bigger companies and corporations such as Waste Management or BFI could easily underbid their way in to start and easily eliminate any competition, diverting that revenue out of town possibly forever.”

The Lambs went on to question whether all industries utilizing heavy trucks would be monopolized by the city and noted that they have paid over $3.9 million in taxes and road use fees distributed to the city over the last 12 months.

“We think it’s important that everyone knows these big trucks on our streets have already paid more towards road repairs than light cars and trucks based on how heavy they can potentially be at max weight,” they said.

As for changes they would support, the Lambs said regular pickup trucks should be allowed to run regular routes as satellites if they are also running routes with packer trucks. Additionally, they feel the city should take a more “proactive” than “reactionary” position on nuisance enforcement.

“You can’t legislate people to have pride in their property’s appearance, but you can engage with citizens to learn why issues exist or continue and put them in contact with programs and clubs that may be able to eliminate some barriers while still enforcing the current laws that encourage nice looking neighborhoods in our city,” they said.

At-Large City Councilor Gary Thompson also told the T-R he preferred the current free enterprise system and continuing to offer residents the options they have now.

“That being said, I do look forward to the results of the unscientific survey. I think the real problem with Marshalltown’s solid waste handling system is not with how garbage is collected and delivered to the Landfill. I think the problems that do arise stem from lack of enforcement of codes and nuisance complaints. Much of this stems from lack of understanding by the residents, lack of necessary staff at the City level, and City priorities,” Thompson said. “I would also like to see recycling drop off stations located throughout Marshalltown. I truly believe (that) a large majority of recyclable items are entering the waste stream.”

Conversely, in an email sent last week, Mayor Joel Greer laid out his case for considering a new system.

“I hope it will spur many people to fill out the questionnaire, which I thought was well-drafted and took very little time to fill out,” he said. “It focused on the main reasons that we should consider a new system: doing better with recycling for our environment; having fewer heavy trucks criss-crossing their routes and causing damage to our streets; making sure every household is serviced so that people will not be tempted to dump their trash in ditches out of town; allowing the use of mechanical pickup machines while still collecting garbage at homes where the occupants are unable to curb their containers; and making it less expensive for all of us customers.”

The city’s contract with ISU for the study comes at a cost of $9,004.32.