By Aleasha Sandley, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
ANDERSON, Ind. — A commission established to seek options for trash removal in the city met for the first time last week and hopes to have a recommendation for the City Council by March.
Seven community members, four City Council members and a Board of Public Works member make up the committee that is led by city engineer Mike Spyers. The commission has looked at options ranging from residents finding and paying for their own trash service to the city doing trash pickup in-house.
“We’re looking at alternatives,” Spyers said.
In July, the City Council approved a $10.70 monthly trash pickup fee for about 23,000 households in the city. The fee was instituted in the wake of projected budget shortfalls in 2009 and 2010.
Many residents during the July council meeting said the monthly fee would cause hardship on their families, especially for the elderly, disabled and poor. In response, city officials promised the council they would create the citizens committee to look into other ways to pay for trash pickup, Works Board Chairman Greg Graham said.
The commission also will try to find ways to bring Anderson’s recycling rate up. Now, city residents recycle about 15 percent of their waste, compared with an average of other comparable cities at 30-35 percent, Spyers said.
“We’re down around 15 percent, so we need to do a better job,” he said.
At their first meeting, committee members received a copy of the current contract for trash pickup between the city and Best Way Disposal, Spyers said. They also heard reports on Anderson’s amount of waste and recycling and received an overview of Best Way’s operations.
Best Way’s contract with the city runs out at the end of June, although it has provisions for extensions. If the committee reports that the best option for trash pickup is to continue the current process, it could rebid the contract.
The committee hopes to have a recommendation for the council by March and will meet twice a month until then, Spyers said.
“That was a pretty hotly debated issue,” Graham said of the new trash fee. “We’re trying to be ahead of the game.”
Contact Aleasha Sandley: 640-4805, aleasha.sandley@heraldbulletin.com.
