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Columbia City to rebalance solid-waste routes; about 10,000 customers to get new service days
Summary
City staff presented a route-balance plan to reduce overtime, improve safety and accommodate growth; staff proposes targeted notifications and a Nov. 10 start for new routes affecting roughly 10,000 of the city's 43,000 customers.
Samantha Yeager, the city's solid waste superintendent, told the City Council that the Solid Waste Division plans to rebalance collection routes to improve safety, reduce unbudgeted overtime and make room for ongoing residential growth. "We are proposing these routes start on November 10," Yeager said, describing a communications plan that includes two mailed letters, a kitchen-magnet schedule and a postcard 15 days before the change.
The change would affect a subset of the city's customers: Yeager said the division services about 43,000 customers and will change schedules for a little over 10,000 of them — roughly 6,500 customers will change garbage day and about 4,000 will change recycling week. She said the division has been tracking growth since 1995 and is averaging about 400 new homes a year. "Industry standards are about 800 to a thousand homes for a 10 hour shift and right now ... we are over routed based on standards," Yeager said.
Public Works Director Robert Anderson and Yeager told council the last comprehensive route balance review was in 1991 and that technological improvements in trucks have helped staff absorb growth until now. Anderson and Yeager said the proposed plan redraws route boundaries, adds route colors for driver and customer clarity, and uses the city's Waste Wizard app and cart tags to help residents find their new schedules.
Council members questioned outreach and follow-up options. Yeager said staff will send a first letter about 45 days before the proposed Nov. 10 start date, a second detailed letter with a color-coded magnet in mid-October, then a postcard 15 days before the change. She told council the division will work with GIS and the city's customer database to target mailings, update the mobile app 10 days in advance, and add a fourth call-center staffer to handle expected questions. "We have separated our mailing list by service day," Yeager said, and "we are prepared" to place bright orange cart tags on cans if residents call to report confusion.
Several council members suggested additional outreach beyond mail — yard signs at neighborhood corners and targeted robocalls or text notices — and asked staff to investigate those options. Yeager said signs and cart tags are under consideration and that staff will work with the Public Relations/Marketing department and the vendor for the Waste Wizard app to optimize notifications.
Yeager and Anderson warned that the rebalance is designed to allow future growth and recommended the November start to reduce safety risks and overtime from increasingly long routes. They emphasized safety concerns for staff working late-night routes, especially as daylight hours shrink.
The presentation was informational; no formal council vote was recorded during the briefing. City staff said the new schedule, if approved as planned, will be accompanied by the targeted mailings, app updates, cart tags and additional call-center staffing to help residents through the change.
