Talking trash

Moorcroft’s Public Works Director Cory Allison, addressed an issue with the town owned garbage receptacles at last week’s meeting of the town council.

“We’re running out of garbage cans,” Allison reported the dilemma. The town has purchased 60 extra dumpsters from Western Sanitation to subsidize for the time being, but the problem is more extensive than first appearance shows.

The receptacles the town owns are old and broken, so, “We’ve been replacing them when we can.” But to replace the whole town, “you’re talking about $25,000-$30,000”.

Allison noted the 20-year-old warm weather receptacles often break, as well. However, Councilman Bob Stewart did not agree with this observation, stating, “I’ve seen that [garbage truck] operator and he’s pretty rough with the trash cans, it’s a two-way street from what I’ve seen.”

An opinion with which Councilwoman Heidi Humpal agreed. Dumpsters damaged by Western are supposed to be replaced at the company’s expense.

Allison thinks there are other causes, too: “I think a lot of our problem is that people who have their garbage missed just call and get another can; then, we have to run another can out there. It’s killing us on the [number] of cans we have.”

Residents who do not have their blue “can” out for garbage pickup before 6 a.m. are written down by address and turned over to the clerk’s office. When the homeowner calls about the missed pickup, the list is checked and if requested, a second can is delivered.

The charge for this second receptacle is for a month. However, according to Allison, “We budgeted enough cans for everybody to have one and some extras – not for everybody to have two.”

Clerk/Treasurer Cheryl Schneider discussed the names that appear on the list of missed pickup repeatedly, saying, “I think that list is beneficial when I get a customer who calls three times in a row and says ‘my garbage was missed’. I say, ‘well, I’m sorry to tell you this, but this is the third time you’ve called in and your name is always on the list so you’ll have to wait until the next garbage pickup.”

In this way she attempts to mitigate the developing issue, not only in the number of cans out, but also for the time taken to deliver.

The second dumpster is not intended to remain out, Schneider explained the process, “[Deputy Clerk Jodi Clark] does a work order saying pick up the can. Typically, if they’re missed and a can is delivered because they have an overabundance of garbage until the next pickup, I don’t think they want it permanently. I think they want the can picked up.”

Allison said the number of cans currently assigned to these residents numbers near 60.

Schneider said, “I think the problem about the two cans started because some people may be doing some spring cleaning or whatever and they want a black can. When we were told we can’t give them a black can because those are reserved for commercial use, that’s where the two cans came from and then, even though we raised the price significantly, I didn’t see a lot of people saying, I don’t want two cans.”

While the need for more residential garbage receptacles was recognized in last year’s budget talks, according to Allison, “[We] ended up cutting it out by the end of it.”

The town is out of cans at this time. Mayor Ben Glenn suggested the director, Schneider and Clark look into the situation, “See if we’re billing for that many doubles? Then, bring that back to us and if that’s something we really need to look at.”

An added issue is Western Sanitation. The truck has allegedly missed entire blocks of cans through no fault of the residents who have their containers out as required. Humpal reported the truck has passed her property “more than once”.

Allison said that they return on Tuesday to recover the areas missed by their drivers. He acknowledged the truck had missed the adjoining alley last week.

Humpal asked how the town decides the truth of the matter when individual cans are missed, “We really don’t know, too, if it’s a fact that the guy’s missing it or if it’s the fact that somebody didn’t set it out.”

Allison alluded to the response of said residents when faced with the weekly list, “Usually, when we tell them we have a list that their can wasn’t out, it’s usually over.”

With all the discussion, one point was iterated repeatedly. Schneider shared her agreement, “My understanding is that even though we have a contractor, it is still the town’s fault if the garbage didn’t get picked up because of the negligence of the driver. So if it’s our fault, we need to supply something for the garbage to go in until it’s picked up again.”

Smith spoke to this year’s budget discussions, “I think that by budget time, we need to figure out how many we need, how much it’s going to cost, that way, we can just try to budget it.”

Glenn argued this thought, though: “Along those lines, if we’re truly getting out of the garbage business, why do we want more cans?”

The council will discuss with Western adjusting the contract to include the pickup service supplying the cans. Allison had already spoken of the matter with Western Sanitation and was told the bid could be redone that way if the council preferred.

“I’m all for that. They screw them up, they fix them,” Glenn said.