Borough Council to seek info from potential single trash haulers

Officials say vote is start of process to find more information

LANSDALE >> Lansdale borough is another step close to choosing a single trash hauler for the town — but still several steps away from making a final decision.

Council voted Wednesday night to seek bids from contractors interested in being the town’s single hauler, which several council members said is meant to gather more information on exactly what they would provide.

“All we’re putting forth tonight is to send it out to bid, to see what the numbers would actually come back at. It’s not making any decision on going to a single hauler,” said Councilman Jason Van Dame.

“We can’t make a decision without this real information. We’ve been working on estimates — let’s get actual figures to help us make that decision,” he said.

For much of the past year, Lansdale officials have debated the pros and cons of various trash pickup options, and whether a single

hauler for the entire town or an in-house borough department would be better options than now, when each resident chooses their own hauler. Building on talks that began in 2011 and feedback from resident surveys in 2012-13, Lansdale officials have said they’re wary of possible high startup costs to setting up a borough-run system, and would like to see specifics from haulers that are interested — and whether the cost per resident would be lower for a single hauler than they pay now.

“We hear that these numbers are projected to come in lower, that every resident would save money, and I’m anxious to see if that’s reality, and what happens,” said council member Mary

Fuller.

Asking contractors for bids does not commit council one way or another, until or unless the bids are evaluated and council picks one particular one: “If we don’t like it, if a majority of us are not happy, we don’t have to move forward with it,” Fuller said.

Councilman Leon Angelichio agreed, saying the discussion so far has revolved around cost estimates based on experiences in other towns, not on what contractors think their costs might look like in Lansdale.

“By having good, concrete numbers, it allows us to further investigate all three options,” Angelichio said.

Councilman Jack Hansen cast the only vote against asking for bids, and said he did so because he has always preferred residents keep the ability to

pick their own haulers.

“Right now, if they have a problem, they have the ability to go somewhere else. If the borough is handling it, you don’t have that ability, and you may be locked in” with a single hauler borough wide, Hansen said.

Advocates of a single hauler have said choosing one could cut down on the number of trash trucks traveling side streets and alleyways, and Hansen said he’s not sold on that rationale.

“Those heavy trucks are still going to be on our roads, so the difference is between having one or two trucks per week, versus having five or six trucks per week. Is it going to make a difference? Possibly, or possibly not,” Hansen said.

Hansen told council he’s heard from a resident who is elderly and can’t physically carry trash cans out to the street, and wanted

to know if she would still be able to have trash cans with wheels — and lids, in case of bad weather.

“I would expect that we would see a number of options,” said council President Denton Burnell, including types of trash cans and how often they would pick up, “so that we and the public can really make an informed decision about what our options are.”

Resident Bob Willi asked if council would be bound by the responses that come back, and Burnell and Van Dame said those responses would prompt a public discussion on which way to proceed.

Resident Rose Chapman said she didn’t appreciate the borough choosing a hauler for residents, and asked if the haulers would provide different costs depending on the amount of trash a household produces.

“Some of us don’t have as much trash as others, and I resent the fact that I have to pay as much as somebody that has 14 bags (of trash) a week, and I have half a bag,” she said.

Borough residents are currently unable to shop for different provides of other utilities because they are provided by local departments, and Chapman said she didn’t want to lose one of the few she can still control.

“I really don’t like being told I’m locked into electric, into water, into sewer. I don’t appreciate the fact of being locked into a trash hauler,” she said.

As the bid package is developed, specifications will include multiple options for number of pickups per week, route designations, and other services, and council would have to approve the final wording on the bid package before it goes public: the vote Sept. 21 authorized staff to prepare and advertise those bid specs.

Borough Solicitor Sean Kilkenny said he and Borough Engineer Chris Fazio have both worked on single hauler contracts in other municipalities, and will work with borough staff to develop bid specifications, which council will have to approve before they go public.

“We’ll include several options, and we’ll see how it comes back,” Kilkenny said.

Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 9 p.m. on Oct. 5, with various council committees meeting starting at 7 p.m. that night, all at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www. Lansdale.org or follow @ LansdalePA on Twitter.