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Collecting Clintonville’s trash

Opt-out option causing problems

By Bert Lehman


Residents of the city of Clintonville have been allowed to opt-out of garbage collection services for the last three years, but city officals say the opt-out option is problematic.

On Feb. 20, 2017, the city council approved an ordinance for citywide collection of residential solid waste, refuse and recyclables. That service began in June 2017.

The ordinance gave city residents the option of opting out of the service.

According to a staff report prepared by Clerk-Treasurer Peggy Johnson for the Feb. 11 council meeting, the number of residents using the garbage collection service has increased each year.

“There are currently 1,541 households requesting the service through the city out of a total of 1,772,” Johnson said in the report. “That leaves 231 households, or 13%, that opted out of the service for 2020.”

At the Feb. 11 meeting, Mayor Richard Beggs asked the council to search for solutions for the garbage collections problems.

“Probably the most hateful problem in city hall is garbage, and the staff feels pretty strongly about it,” Beggs said.

Beggs said he asked Johnson and City Administrator Sharon Eveland to address the council about the issues with the garbage collection, but they were reluctant to.

“Suffice to say they are absolutely against an opt-out,” Beggs said. “Most of the problems come from the opt-out.”

Council President Mike Hankins said he fought hard for an opt-out option when the city originally approved the garbage collection contract with Harter’s Fox Valley Disposal out of Wittenberg. He added that he thinks it is still important for residents to have that option.

Ald. Brad Rokus said he agreed with Hankins.

Ald. Rusty Mitchell asked what residents are doing with their garbage if they opt-out of city collection.

Beggs said they have to take their garbage to Clintonville Area Waste Service (CAWS).

Problems with opting out

Eveland added issues have arisen in the past where residents who opt-out of garbage pickup end up hoarding garbage on their property.

“That’s not everybody that’s opting out,” Eveland clarified.

Eveland added, “I want to be very, very clear, the staff recommendation is not a convenience factor. The staff recommendation is, after dealing with this for three opt-out periods and the enormous amount of problems and the abuse that my staff takes.”

The opt-out also has a financial impact on the city, she said.

“In order to provide the opt-out option, we have to do certain things, and those activities cost money,” Eveland said.

Another problem is landlords in the city are opting out of garbage collection, but then their tenants call city hall requesting garbage service, Eveland said.

“It’s frustrating for my staff that has to deal with this every year,” Eveland said. “And I will tell you, some of the abuse is downright ridiculous. When I have people on the phone cussing and yelling at me and staff, that is not OK.”

Costs to opting out

If the city continues to provide the opt-out option, Eveland said she believes the next time the city bids out the garbage collection contract, residents will see a higher cost for the service.

Currently, residents who use the garbage collection service pay $132.58 annually, which equates to $2.55 per week.

If the city eliminated the service when the contract runs out, residents would have to take their garbage and recycling to CAWS.

The current cost for that is $2.50 per bag of garbage.

The other option would be for residents to contract the service with an independent hauler, which would cost between $348 and $420 per year, according to the staff report.

“The company that we’re dealing with also says that they struggle with the contract with Clintonville, and if I remember correctly there is no other city in Wisconsin that has an opt-out,” Beggs said.

Ald. Julie Stumbris questioned how Harter’s could be struggling with the opt-out option.

Stumbris also wondered about the future of CAWS if city residents could not opt-out of the garbage pickup.

Ald. Steven Kettenhoven said there should not be a choice of opting out of garbage collection service.

“I don’t have kids in school, but I still have to pay school taxes,” Kettenhoven said. “It’s part of what the city offers and it’s part of the services that the city has. I think the only way you are going to totally correct the problem is either totally get rid of it and let everybody go back to privatization, which didn’t work because we had five garbage trucks running on the streets, or its everyone is in, and that’s just the way it is.”

The council will continue to discuss the garbage collection service at future meetings.

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