Souderton to survey residents’opinions on single trash hauler

When the sewer bills go out at the end of October, SouderWRQ RIfiFLDOV wDQW WR JHW EDFN more than just a payment.

They’re also using the mailing to ask residents their opinion on whether the borough should switch to having one trash hauler collect the trash and recyclables from all borough homes.

There are now nine different companies making the pickups in the town, Souderton Borough Council President Brian Goshow said at the board’s Sept. 10 public works work session.

It appears it would be less FRVWOy DQG PRUH HIfiFLHQW IRU residents to have the borough contract with only one hauler, council members said, but they want to see what residents think before looking further into the possibility.

One of the companies is now charging its customers $20 a month, which is probably less than would be offered in single-hauler bids, but the change would be a savings for many others who are now paying more than that, council member Richard Godshall said.

Other issues, such as offering a pay per bag option, also have to be considered and there should be a way for people to opt out of the singlehauler plan if it is adopted, he said.

“In theory, it’s a very simple idea, but when you start getting to the nuts and bolts, there’s an awful lot of them,” Goshow said.

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There are also people who now haven’t chosen any trash hauler of their own and have a different way of disposing of their trash, he said.

“There’s an awful lot of people who just drive around and look for a dumpster to throw their trash in,” Goshow said.

In another trash collectionrelated matter, Mike Coll, borough manager, said he has got- ten copies of ordinances from other towns for trash collection, and while most of those include rules on how long the trash containers can be left out at the street, there’s little about where the containers can be stored the rest of the time.

“They’re very vague and silent on it,” Coll said. “They don’t really discuss the placement of it.”

The borough is planning to revise its own rules after a resident who keeps his container in the front yard near the sidewalk was told to move his container, although he says he was previously told he is not in violation of the current orGLQDQFH. BRURuJK RIfiFLDOV VDy complaints from neighbors led to the notice being placed at the home.

In most cases, the update should require that the containers be kept beside or behind homes, council agreed.

“The idea is the container should not be placed in the front yard,” Coll said.

In many cases, there are alleys behind row houses, from which the trash pickups can be made, but there are a few places where the trash containers would have to be brought around the row of connected homes, which FRuOG EH GLIfiFuOW, FRuQFLO members said.

Concerns were also raised about elderly people having GLIfiFuOWy WDNLQJ WKH FRQWDLQers around the house.

In some cases, the contain- ers could be screened-in rather than being required to be in a backyard, council members said.

The proposed rules are meant to protect against visibility and odors from the containers bothering neighbors or passersby, council members said.

In a separate matter at the meeting, Coll said there’s a new explanation for a power outage at the sewer treatment plant in July.

“It appears as though the plant, itself, took a lightning strike,” Coll said.

That means insurance will cover the costs of the repairs, which also will not be as much as initially thought, he said.