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Del City trustees ask staff for study after extended debate on bulk-trash pickup and fees
Summary
Trustees directed staff to produce data on bulk-trash volumes, turnaround times and costs after a lengthy discussion about rising curbside debris, possible rate increases and options to reduce abuse of the free pickups.
Del City trustees asked city staff to gather detailed data on bulk-trash pickups and costs and return with recommendations after an extended discussion at the Nov. 4 municipal meeting.
The meeting followed an abatement example in which the city paid $625 to remove debris that a trustee said should have qualified for a free bulk pickup. Trustees debated whether the current $2 monthly fee — adopted about eight years ago — still covers program costs and discussed options including raising the fee, broadening scheduled pickups, or running neighborhood collection routes once a month.
City Manager Jody said staff will do an assessment of sanitation routes to quantify how many residences have items waiting for pickup and to calculate average turnaround time; staff reported an average five-day pickup turnaround during recent catch-up work and said 70 outstanding tickets were cleared the prior week. "We're doing an assessment through our sanitation routes right now to determine how many residents actually have something sitting on their property," Jody said.
Trustees and staff also raised enforcement and abuse concerns: some said trailers have been brought into town to dump waste during open-collection days, prompting the council years ago to move to scheduled pickups to deter misuse. Trustee discussion included potentially increasing the monthly fee (one trustee suggested $4) and exploring ordinance changes for oversized dumps that block streets.
No ordinance or fee change was adopted at the meeting. Instead, trustees directed staff to return with: an inventory of curbside items by neighborhood, the average response time from report to pickup, a cost analysis of the current $2 fee, and proposed program options (expanded pickups, schedule changes, or targeted enforcement). The council asked that the bulk-trash program be placed on a future agenda for formal consideration after the study.
Supporters of keeping the scheduled approach warned that rolling open pickups could be abused, while others urged stronger communication about the two free bulk pickups already included in the service. Assistant City Manager said the city has used newsletters, utility bill notices and flyers, and will roll out a MyCivic/Encode app to improve direct notifications in coming months.
Next steps: staff will return with the requested data and recommendations for council consideration at a subsequent meeting.
