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Council debates waste-hauler scheduling and truck concentration; staff to consult haulers
Summary
Councilmembers discussed changing residential waste-hauler pickup from multiple days to single-day zone pick-up to reduce daily truck traffic, but raised concerns about competition, service reliability and concentrated truck volumes; staff will consult haulers and report back.
City staff briefed the council on residential waste-hauler service patterns and the 2019 change that limited pickups to three days across two service districts. The change reduced the number of haul days across neighborhoods, but residents and councilmembers continue to complain about truck concentration on service days, truck noise and occasional litter blown from trucks.
Councilmembers debated options including: keep the current two-/three-day district model; move to a single scheduled pickup day per zone (similar to Apple Valley or Burnsville); split the city into more zones so each has one pickup day; or move to an organized single-hauler contract model. Members discussed tradeoffs: single-day pickup reduces daily frequency but concentrates many haulers' trucks on one day; a single-hauler model could reduce truck counts but may reduce competition and increase prices.
Resident Mike Gill described picking debris from a ditch he said likely originated from garbage trucks and urged the city to discuss truck sealing and driver practices. Councilmembers expressed interest in contacting haulers to explore operational fixes and asked staff to solicit hauler feedback before pursuing code changes.
No formal ordinance change was adopted. Staff said they will reach out to haulers for operational feedback and return with options for council consideration.
