Residents Air Criticism About Trash Pick-up Service Changes
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Anthony Brabec, 536 Center St., said he moved to Warsaw three years ago because it’s a beautiful town. Now on Monday mornings all he sees are the trash cans. “It’s a pretty ugly sight,” he said.
He said his landlord is being forced to either use the trash cans or pay for a private dumpster, which would raise Brabec’s rent. On disability, if his rent goes up, he said he may have to give something up like food or medicine. Living on a hill, he said there is no way he can drag the new trash can to the curb.
“So I would really like the council to relook at this resolution and put it back in the alleys,” he said.
Lydia McDonald, 917 E. Main St., said she used to leave her recycling container in the alley and then carry her items to the container. Now that she has to take her container to the street, she said she doesn’t even know if she will recycle.
Joy Conley, 919 E. Main St., expressed concern about how difficult it will be in the winter.
Dennis Crumbley, 423 S. Indiana St., said, “Basically, we’re all saying the same thing. The people on Facebook, we’re all saying the same thing: We’d appreciate going back to alley pick up.”
While he’s only 57, he said the first time he had to take the new trash can down his hill he slipped. He said if he’s having trouble with a full garbage can, there are probably thousands of others in the city with some type of disability that have it worse. He also said having trash pickup in the alley wasn’t broken so he didn’t understand why the city moved it to the front curb.
For Ashley Finney, 2025 Shell Bark Lane, one trash can isn’t enough for her and her family. She said she has to take her family’s trash and dump it in her business’s dumpster to get rid of it all.
She also said she doesn’t want to recycle and doesn’t have time to recycle. Even if she wanted to recycle, she said she never got a recycle bin anyway. “I guess I didn’t realize that was a thing,” she said.
Sherri Dalrymple owns a three-unit apartment building at 419 S. Indiana St. Residents have to climb up and down 12 8-inch concrete steps to take their trash cans out to the curb from the backside of the yard that is up a hill. She said she has single moms living there and she couldn’t transport the 96-gallon trash cans if she lived there. She said it will create trash issues for her because residents won’t want to take the trash down.
The other issue Dalrymple mentioned was that one of the trash cans already was stolen by a resident who moved out.
George Ruckman, 1042 W. Winona Ave., said the extras by the trash cans were not being picked up. “Where is all that extra trash going?” he asked.
Monica Boyer, East Market Street, said her street looked better now with the street improvements but now was concerned about the aesthetics with the trash cans not brought in from the curb. She said she didn’t have any place to put her trash can at her house, and wasn’t sure what the recycling schedule was so was going to stop recycling as well. With her big family, she said she didn’t know where to put their extra trash because she couldn’t get more than one trash can.
Chad Zartman said people on a new Facebook page called Warsaw Community want extra cans and a return to alley pick up, people can’t handle the large cans, are upset anything that can’t fit in the can isn’t being picked up and the streets look ugly with trash cans especially when residents don’t move them. People feel like there’s a loss of service compared to what they had, he said. Zartman said charging a small fee to continue the service the city was offering would have been better than the new trash pickup service.
Later when Mayor Joe Thallemer asked Zartman why he didn’t recycle, Zartman said he didn’t want to. Thallemer said he was a little puzzled why a person wouldn’t when they’re paying for it.
The last resident who offered comments was Tim Keyes, 926 E. Clark St., who said the trash cans out in the front lawns does look “terrible.”
Thallemer then responded to the criticism.
He said the city’s general fund has had difficulties in supporting the trash pickup. Under the old system, it took three men to run a trash route, which wasn’t efficient. The new system is automated so it only takes one man.
Due to the size of the new trash truck and maneuverability, along with the damage to the alleyways, the trash pickup had to be moved out of the alleys. There also was a safety concern for the city workers.
The city looked at contracting the service out, but that wouldn’t have provided residents with the “white glove” service the city offers. The trash cans in front aren’t beautiful, but 60 percent of residents were already taking their cans out front.
If someone is not physically able to take their trash out to the curb, Thallemer said the city will help them. They just have to provide a written request to the street department and it will be honored as best as they can.
A typical trash can is 32 gallons. The new ones are 96 gallons – equal to three of the old ones, he said. Two of the new 96-gallon Totes are equal to six of the old cans.
“I find it hard to believe a family would fill six garbage cans unless potentially there’s a business going on in that house or for whatever reason people come into that house and dump trash,” he said.
The city continues to pick up large items, like sofas, and that has not changed, he said. There are some items like electronics and household hazardous waste the city has never picked up because it’s legally not allowed to do so. It is still picking up yard waste.
He also said there wasn’t a one-can limit.
If someone wants to know the recycling schedule or more information, Thallemer said they just had to call the street department. They will be happy to provide a city resident with a recycling Tote, and recycling will “drastically” reduce the volume of one’s trash, he said.
“Service has not been decreased one iota,” Thallemer said.
If people aren’t taking their trash cans in within 24 hours of pick up, he suggested the city may consider taking their trash cans away. Boyer suggested red tagging them first to let people know they have to take them back in from the curb within 24 hours, which Thallemer said was a good idea.
Public Works Superintendent Jeff Beeler said there’s some people who will not be happy no matter what the street department does. He said they’re still providing the same “exceptional” white glove service they’ve always provided, assisting people as much as they can with their trash removal needs.
Warren Gruenewald, Beeler’s assistant, said he’s just been trying to take care of problems of individual cases. “I’ve run across people in wheelchairs, who can barely get around in crutches, they’re still taking it out to the curb. It’s amazing ... there are people out there not allowing any physical disability” to stop them, he said.[[In-content Ad]]
Anthony Brabec, 536 Center St., said he moved to Warsaw three years ago because it’s a beautiful town. Now on Monday mornings all he sees are the trash cans. “It’s a pretty ugly sight,” he said.
He said his landlord is being forced to either use the trash cans or pay for a private dumpster, which would raise Brabec’s rent. On disability, if his rent goes up, he said he may have to give something up like food or medicine. Living on a hill, he said there is no way he can drag the new trash can to the curb.
“So I would really like the council to relook at this resolution and put it back in the alleys,” he said.
Lydia McDonald, 917 E. Main St., said she used to leave her recycling container in the alley and then carry her items to the container. Now that she has to take her container to the street, she said she doesn’t even know if she will recycle.
Joy Conley, 919 E. Main St., expressed concern about how difficult it will be in the winter.
Dennis Crumbley, 423 S. Indiana St., said, “Basically, we’re all saying the same thing. The people on Facebook, we’re all saying the same thing: We’d appreciate going back to alley pick up.”
While he’s only 57, he said the first time he had to take the new trash can down his hill he slipped. He said if he’s having trouble with a full garbage can, there are probably thousands of others in the city with some type of disability that have it worse. He also said having trash pickup in the alley wasn’t broken so he didn’t understand why the city moved it to the front curb.
For Ashley Finney, 2025 Shell Bark Lane, one trash can isn’t enough for her and her family. She said she has to take her family’s trash and dump it in her business’s dumpster to get rid of it all.
She also said she doesn’t want to recycle and doesn’t have time to recycle. Even if she wanted to recycle, she said she never got a recycle bin anyway. “I guess I didn’t realize that was a thing,” she said.
Sherri Dalrymple owns a three-unit apartment building at 419 S. Indiana St. Residents have to climb up and down 12 8-inch concrete steps to take their trash cans out to the curb from the backside of the yard that is up a hill. She said she has single moms living there and she couldn’t transport the 96-gallon trash cans if she lived there. She said it will create trash issues for her because residents won’t want to take the trash down.
The other issue Dalrymple mentioned was that one of the trash cans already was stolen by a resident who moved out.
George Ruckman, 1042 W. Winona Ave., said the extras by the trash cans were not being picked up. “Where is all that extra trash going?” he asked.
Monica Boyer, East Market Street, said her street looked better now with the street improvements but now was concerned about the aesthetics with the trash cans not brought in from the curb. She said she didn’t have any place to put her trash can at her house, and wasn’t sure what the recycling schedule was so was going to stop recycling as well. With her big family, she said she didn’t know where to put their extra trash because she couldn’t get more than one trash can.
Chad Zartman said people on a new Facebook page called Warsaw Community want extra cans and a return to alley pick up, people can’t handle the large cans, are upset anything that can’t fit in the can isn’t being picked up and the streets look ugly with trash cans especially when residents don’t move them. People feel like there’s a loss of service compared to what they had, he said. Zartman said charging a small fee to continue the service the city was offering would have been better than the new trash pickup service.
Later when Mayor Joe Thallemer asked Zartman why he didn’t recycle, Zartman said he didn’t want to. Thallemer said he was a little puzzled why a person wouldn’t when they’re paying for it.
The last resident who offered comments was Tim Keyes, 926 E. Clark St., who said the trash cans out in the front lawns does look “terrible.”
Thallemer then responded to the criticism.
He said the city’s general fund has had difficulties in supporting the trash pickup. Under the old system, it took three men to run a trash route, which wasn’t efficient. The new system is automated so it only takes one man.
Due to the size of the new trash truck and maneuverability, along with the damage to the alleyways, the trash pickup had to be moved out of the alleys. There also was a safety concern for the city workers.
The city looked at contracting the service out, but that wouldn’t have provided residents with the “white glove” service the city offers. The trash cans in front aren’t beautiful, but 60 percent of residents were already taking their cans out front.
If someone is not physically able to take their trash out to the curb, Thallemer said the city will help them. They just have to provide a written request to the street department and it will be honored as best as they can.
A typical trash can is 32 gallons. The new ones are 96 gallons – equal to three of the old ones, he said. Two of the new 96-gallon Totes are equal to six of the old cans.
“I find it hard to believe a family would fill six garbage cans unless potentially there’s a business going on in that house or for whatever reason people come into that house and dump trash,” he said.
The city continues to pick up large items, like sofas, and that has not changed, he said. There are some items like electronics and household hazardous waste the city has never picked up because it’s legally not allowed to do so. It is still picking up yard waste.
He also said there wasn’t a one-can limit.
If someone wants to know the recycling schedule or more information, Thallemer said they just had to call the street department. They will be happy to provide a city resident with a recycling Tote, and recycling will “drastically” reduce the volume of one’s trash, he said.
“Service has not been decreased one iota,” Thallemer said.
If people aren’t taking their trash cans in within 24 hours of pick up, he suggested the city may consider taking their trash cans away. Boyer suggested red tagging them first to let people know they have to take them back in from the curb within 24 hours, which Thallemer said was a good idea.
Public Works Superintendent Jeff Beeler said there’s some people who will not be happy no matter what the street department does. He said they’re still providing the same “exceptional” white glove service they’ve always provided, assisting people as much as they can with their trash removal needs.
Warren Gruenewald, Beeler’s assistant, said he’s just been trying to take care of problems of individual cases. “I’ve run across people in wheelchairs, who can barely get around in crutches, they’re still taking it out to the curb. It’s amazing ... there are people out there not allowing any physical disability” to stop them, he said.[[In-content Ad]]
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