COVID-19 and Your Trash

Trash pickup in Hendersonville has been... not great lately. According to the city’s provider, that’s because of COVID-19.

After receiving a record number of trash service complaints within the last couple of weeks, the city’s Public Works Committee held a special-called meeting on Monday to discuss the issue.

The coronavirus pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of life, including trash collection, Interim Public Works Director Marshall Boyd told committee members and several other aldermen who attended the meeting via Zoom.

“In the past couple of weeks, the number of complaints has reached levels we have never experienced and are never comfortable with,” said Boyd. He attributed the amount of complaints regarding missed trash pick-up to staffing issues with Waste Pro due to COVID-19.

 https://www.hendersonvillestandard.com/news/waste-pro-trash-delays-due-to-staffing-issues-related-to-covid-19/article_2d5e8640-ccd6-11ea-b6b8-1f4d20226628.html

Doesn't Pay the Trash Bill

A story in the Hendersonville Standard indicates Mayor Jamie Clary is disputing a trash bill from former waste services provider Republic Services, and that the refusal could cause problems for the city:

Mayor Jamie Clary’s refusal to pay an overdue bill from Republic Services, the city’s former trash collection provider, ignited a heated - and confusing - discussion during a recent Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting. 

According to Finance Director Robert Manning, the city paid Republic $175,416.94 on Sept. 20, leaving a balance of $215,492.

“I’m stunned after what we were just advised in executive session to come out and hear this,” Ward 1 Alderman Peg Petrelli said during the meeting. “The lack of leadership is absolutely stunning to me at this point… This is a prime example of one of the reasons why I voted to move up the selection of a city administrator this evening – because of situations like this.”

MORE on the trash controversy

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Recycling Pilot to End

Alderman Scott Sprouse explains why the recycling pilot program is coming to an end:

Last night, our board voted to end the pilot recycling program. Here’s why.

Nearly two years ago, the city initiated the pilot program in order to gauge public support of recycling. We needed data - percentage of homeowners participating, average volume collected per household, etc. - to help with planning and decisions regarding a potential community-wide program.

Last spring, the board was told all needed data was collected and funding for the pilot program would expire when the fiscal year ended on June 30. The board voted to fund the program for four additional months to help foster a transition to a community-wide solution.

I don’t have to remind you what happened in the meantime. The near last-minute vote to change who both collects our garbage and how often they collect it set off a series of short term decisions too reactive and often lacking details. (I voted against changing our trash services, but once the decision was made I accepted it, rolled up my sleeves, and started doing what I can to help other officials and staff implement it.)

Last night, the board was told the funding extension we passed in June for the pilot program will expire at the end of this month. We were asked to extend it for another six months with no timeline or next steps towards a community-wide solution. That would be just another reactive, short-term decision made without a proactive, long-term plan.

Voting to extend the pilot program may have been the politically expedient thing to do, but I could not in good conscience vote to continue a program that has completed it purpose. I could not ask every homeowner across the city to continue funding a service provided to only the chosen few. In some wards, the service is provided to only one subdivision. In Ward Two, the service is provided to only one block.

The next step toward recycling is not endlessly continuing a pilot program. The next step is developing a proposal, including a timeline and costs, and making a long-term decision to benefit the entire community.

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Trashy

This is the last week of Republic Services trash pickup in Hendersonville.

Next week, the city will move to once a week pickup offered by a new provider.

What's your experience with Republic?

When the new company starts, how will that go? Keep us posted in this time of transition.

Email us: newshendersonville@gmail.com

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Trashy FAQ

Tena Lee in the Hendersonville Standard does a great job of explaining what's going to happen with trash starting in July as the city moves to once a week pickup.

Residents won’t receive a new or different trash can. They can provide their own additional cans with a maximum height of 42 inches.

According to Clary, bulk items placed at the curb will be picked up the same day residents’ trash is picked up.

A pilot recycling program was implemented in the fall of 2017 that serves around eight different neighborhoods. However, bids haven’t been issued for a citywide effort.

MORE>

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Thoughts on Trash

So, starting in July, Hendersonville will have a new trash company and everyone will have new trash cans. Service will go from twice a week to once a week and there is some discussion (though no final decision) about adding recycling to the mix. For now, the only guarantee is that citizens will get less service and may also enjoy a savings in the rate they pay for garbage pickup.

Alderman Scott Sprouse and former Alderman Matt Stamper offer some thoughts on this new development:

From Sprouse via his aldermanic Facebook page --

Last night, the board voted to change Hendersonville's twice a week, back door trash service to once a week, back door service. Also, we decided to award the contract to a new service provider. I cast the lone no vote.

No options on the table included recycling. I wish at least one did.

Once a week collection is not frequent enough, especially for people who live where HOA rules prohibit them from leaving trash cans outside. We'll realize this better once summer comes, once it's 95 degrees or higher day after day, once traveling on the day we're to put the trash out means we have to wait a second week for it to be collected.

Also, I have concerns about changing the service provider with such short notice. On July 1, our trash will start being collected by a company that today has no local facility, owns no equipment here, and employs no one to actually provide the service. They have thirty-two business days to acquire that facility; purchase the equipment; hire, screen and train the people who will be driving the trucks and hauling the trash; and establish and learn new routes. We were concerned about another provider having time to ramp-up new service when this was discussed two months ago. We were concerned when we first voted three weeks ago. I don't know what changed last night to make those concerns go away.

While I disagreed with the decision, I will do what I always do. I will respect the will of the board and work to implement the decision of the majority to the best of my ability.

In addition, the reduction of service means the cost of service will be reduced. I will stand by my pledge to vote to pass that reduced cost directly back to the homeowners who pay the garbage fee.

And, from Stamper:

Someone check my math. The old garbage fee (twice a week) was $4,690,907. You have to add tipping fee which comes from the general fund of 975,000 roughly. So $5,665,907. But the fee we pay is $293 on our property tax bill (see attached) for our trash fee. If it was all charged to the residents it would have been $354. Keep that number in mind.

The new contract is $2,553,107.88. If you add the tipping fee (which won't change) you are at $3,528,107.88. Now before we rejoice at a 45.573% decrease in the variable amount of this thing (37.73% overall decrease) and before you think those savings are going to be passed on to the residents keep one important thing in mind. Your service that you are paying for is being cut in half.

So not bad financially, a significant reduction in the cost for a 50% reduction in service. This ignores whether you like or don't like only getting your trash picked up once a week. But the part I'm not excited about (besides going to once a week) is that the push from some of our leaders is not to pass all of this savings on to the residents. Simple math would say the new garbage fee should be at the absolute most $220.37, let's round up since they use whole dollars and just have everyone chip in an extra 63 cents and you are $221. Keep an eye on the first reading of the budget and see if they move it to $221 or less. They really should in my opinion. If you go a dime over $221 you are subsidizing and paying for city services enjoyed by businesses and residents and making only the residents pay for them (not to mention a person with a home value of $150,000 pays the same fee as an $800,000 home). The trash fee is inherently regressive so abusing it would devastating to those with lower economic demographics.

Now this assumes a big change moving the tipping fee from the overall general fund and putting it on the homeowners. But assuming they do that the trash fee should not exceed $221. Any argument they give you that it should be higher than that is absolutely untrue and dishonest. It's a pass through and $221 would make it a straight pass through. If they decided to continue to pay for the tipping fees from the general fund the fee should be $159.47. Were I still on the board I would urge my colleagues to meet somewhere in the middle, perhaps $200. Notice the stormwater fee. In the past year you are looking at them pushing something everyone paid for onto the backs of residents through the trash fee, they've added a $72 stormwater fee to every resident and the reappraisals mean on the property tax itself (which is outside of these two fees) some folks are going to pay double what they paid last year.

Enough is enough on our residents. It's a triple whammy and it appears no one but me is standing up and saying something about it using simple math and facts. There is no denying the accuracy of anything I've said here. In the past two days I've been called about everything but a child of God for pointing out what is happening to us as a city. I'm not being dishonest, I've laid out plainly for all to see.

Stay tuned for what's next!

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