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Resident urges Baldwin City to require occasional pickup of overflow garbage in next contract
Summary
At Baldwin City's council meeting a resident, Paul Wolf, told the council crews sometimes collect a container but leave an extra bag and urged that the next solid-waste contract explicitly require pickup of an occasional extra bag; staff explained residents can call City Hall to be added to a pickup list and reminded the public of a Nov. 7 amnesty day.
Paul Wolf, a Baldwin City resident who gave his address on the record, urged the council to require the city—ontractor to pick up an occasional extra bag of household trash.
"I would like to encourage you when that issue comes up again next year that the contract ... includes provisions for, hey, an occasional extra bag should be picked up," Paul Wolf said during the public-comment period. He said the missed pickups happened "two, three times" intermittently and that he was frustrated given rising property taxes.
City staff and a neighbor who spoke in support (identified in the meeting as Marca) told Wolf there are processes residents can use: callers can contact City Hall to be placed on a list for extra items and the city runs a single amnesty collection day each year (announced in the meeting as November 7). Staff said the amnesty-day service requires items to be out by 8:00 a.m. and does not accept tires or batteries; scrap metal may be handled separately.
Council members and staff also explained why the contractor sometimes leaves overflow: contractor routes and landfill transfers are scheduled around container counts and extra items can disrupt those plans. Staff suggested the city consider how to define "abuse" of occasional pickups when drafting contract language.
The council did not change policy during the meeting; the comment was heard during the public-comment portion and will inform staff and future contracting discussions.
The council previously amended the agenda earlier in the meeting to add other business and then proceeded to routine items and reports.
