Holts Summit trash problems draw little response from residents

HOLTS SUMMIT - The Holts Summit Board of Aldermen discussed four potential solutions to the city's litter and illegal dumping problem at its work session Monday night.

Currently, the city does not require residents to have trash service. Holts Summit has used Allied Waste since the 1990s. The city reached out to the company for potential solutions to its trash problem.

Mayor Lucas Fitzpatrick said the board could only continue discussion on the city's trash problem for so long.

"We can't sit and talk about it for the rest of eternity," Fitzpatrick said. "We're going to need to make a decision."

The board held a public hearing at its August meeting to gather residents' feedback on Allied Waste Service's proposed contract for trash services. The board also tabled readings of the ordinance last month to give residents more time to give the board feedback and to allow more time for board discussion on Allied's proposal.

At Monday's work session, board members were surprised at how few residents had given the city feedback on Allied's proposal and the city's trash problem. Crane said the city has heard from five people - four were against and one was for requiring all residents to have trash service.

Fitzpatrick said he didn't think there was a way to completely stop the city's litter and illegal dumping problem, but he wants the board to find a way to decrease it.

"I just want our streets not to be as littered as they are," Fitzpatrick said.

The city has discussed multiple options with Allied over the past few years. The board agreed that its decision is down to two of the four options discussed Monday night. City Administrator Brian Crane said he thinks option one, which is the option outlined in the ordinance currently before the Board of Aldermen, is the best of the four options.

Allied Waste Service's proposed contract currently before the board includes:

•City billing.

•Mandatory residential trash service.

•95-gallon cart for residential service.

•Optional recycling program with a $3.25 per-home cost for recycling (cost is dependent on 600 participants in recycling program).

•$11.20 for residential service (city will match current billed cost).

•No fuel surcharge fee.

•3 percent annual price increase for customers.

•Five year term with rollover.

Another option the board thought had potential was similar to the one currently outlined in the ordinance before the board.

It also required trash service, required 95-gallon carts and had optional recycling at the same price quoted above. It differed in that Allied Waste would handle the billing, which means the city would not have to pay an employee to handle it.

It also did not have a 3 percent annual price increase for customers like the proposed ordinance currently before the board does. It did, however, have a 5 percent franchise fee, which the city would use to help repair any streets damaged by large trash trucks.