Baldwin puts forth plan to council for changes to trash service in Aragon

Right now, residents have no choice but to sign up for cityprovided trash services, which is run by Public Works.

The Aragon City Council is considering changes to its garbage policy, but will need to draw up ordinance amendments before moving forward.

Mayor Garry Baldwin asked the council members to come early to the monthly work session to discuss what to do about a variety of issues plaguing the city’s garbage service, starting off with the problem of past due bills.

It started with Baldwin providing the council with several letters from city employees and Aragon’s Municipal Court Judge Terry Wheeler, who has been frustrated with the problems showing up in his courtroom with unpaid garbage bills.

The problem is when the city issues into agreements with those with past due bills to get them paid and those conditions aren’t met for many reasons, then he must decide as a judge what to do.

“If a citation is issued and/or there is a breach of the agreement, there can be circumstances such as simply a defiance to payment, a financial hardship, or the resident has moved,” Wheeler’s letter stated. “As Judge I have broad discretion as to punishment, but I certainly do not want to be accused of “selective prosecution,” where I impose one penalty on one resident and another different penalty on another.”

So Baldwin developed a plan he put down on paper for other council mem- bers to discuss where the city could decrease the cost to customers for trash service and still make profit off the operation, and also give city residents the choice of whether to use city trash services, or seek a third party to pick up their trash weekly.

At the moment, local residents whether renters or homeowners have no choice but to sign up for city-provided trash service, which is run by the Public Works department.

Baldwin’s plan also would require the first two months of service up front from residents who choose city trash service, but those who are already using the services won’t be required to pay additional deposits.

His main goal in putting forth the new plan was to end a policy where local residents are continually charged for delinquent bills, which require extra time for city employees to process, and to also bring an end to having to negotiate for repayment on those accounts.

Instead if the council changes the ordinance and approves the broad strokes of Baldwin’s plan, residents instead will have their cans picked up and service ended after the two months of deposit is used up.

Then residents would be on their own to figure out who would collect their trash.

‘As Judge I have broad discretion as to punishment, but I certainly do not want to be accused of ‘selective prosecution’.’

Terry Wheeler

Aragon judge

‘ ... In the long run we’ll either come out the same or maybe ahead of where we are now with garbage collections.’

Garry Baldwin

Aragon mayor

Though the council was on board with the plan to change trash service requirements by ordinance and allow residents to choose whether to use city services or contractors, not everyone was on board with changing the costs.

Kelsey Collum, who will get to take his seat on the council after the election was scheduled in March that has now been called off, said he prices were still below the competition after having learned a local contractor charged $60 a month quarterly, well under the $ 51 a month that local residents are charged in the same three month period at $17 a month prices already in place.

Baldwin’s plan would have brought those prices down to $15 a month.

“I believe if we make it competitive in pricing, and not force people to take it, while I believe we’ll lose some people I think we’ll pick up some people too, and in the long run we’ll either come out the same or maybe ahead of where we are now with garbage collections,” Baldwin said.

His plan also included a question of whether to move the cost of street lighting and the electrical bill for their use under the general budget, which would also require an ordinance change as well.

Baldwin’s position was that street lights were a public safety issue, and thus residents shouldn’t have to foot the bill for the costs annually as part of trash service.

He asked that the city attorney draw up the needed changes for the ordinances, which would be presented for a first reading but no vote during the March city council meeting.

The main problems with the city’s trash service have come with getting residents to sign up and maintain their payments on the program, and who is responsible for cleanup of properties for renters who leave behind trash piles when they move out.