A citizen's complaint has prompted Pottsville to improve the wording of its mandatory residential garbage ordinance, Ellen Micka, city treasurer, said Monday.
"This was two months ago. Because of the way the ordinance was written, it was open to question. And a citizen came in and said they wanted to opt-out," Micka said.
"So we decided it needed to be more specific," Doreen Devitt, the city's solid waste department account manager, said Monday.
"And getting rid of garbage, or not, is a big Quality of Life issue," city Administrator Thomas A. Palamar said Monday.
The first reading of the city's new solid waste ordinance was done at its March 11 meeting. The ordinance is slated for final approval at the council's next meeting set for 6:30 p.m. April 8 in city hall.
The city first adopted its solid waste ordinance July 9, 2001, Palamar said.
According to that ordinance - available on the city's website at www.city.pottsville.pa.us - the responsibility of residential owners is outlined in "Article IV: Contract Collection and Disposal." It states:
"Each owner and occupant shall provide for the removal of solid wastes and recyclable material from the parcel, household unit or nonhousehold unit on which they are generated, either by means of a service provided by the town or by private licensed hauler, or by direct haul by or on behalf of the property holder or his/her agent to a disposal site approved by the county or otherwise licensed by the state or federal governments."
However, that didn't clearly spell out the city's intentions, Micka said.
The revised ordinance does. A new section, "City-Wide Collection," states:
"All residential properties are required to use the hauler contracted by the city and pay to the city the fees assessed in accordance with this chapter."
When asked who made the complaint, Micka said, "I can't give a name."
"We get calls and we get complaints from different people sometimes about different things. There are questions and clarifications and over the years we've probably received enough calls from people who say 'Do we have to be part of this?' or 'How does this work? According to the ordinance it says we can choose.' And we have to explain to people what the city's intention was. And we found there was enough reason to understand that people would have questions and that we should clean that up. And, again, we're not changing anything in this ordinance. We're clarifying things," Palamar said.
Following the complaint, the Pottsville Solid Waste Committee decided to make a series of improvements to the ordinance.
The committee's members include Palamar and Devitt, Mayor John D.W. Reiley, Leo Schwartz, city business privilege tax administrator; Julie Rescorla, city clerk, and Mary Quirk, Palamar's administrative secretary.
Those improvements include a list of definitions, Palamar said.
Those terms include: Ashes, city, collect/collection, construction debris, garbage, dwelling structure, dwelling unit, refuse, residential properties, rubbish, solid waste, structure and yard waste.
"You don't see us changing ordinances very often. We do it when we know we need to do it ... What we're trying to do is make sure it runs as smoothly as possible," Palamar said.
Of the 67 municipalities in Schuylkill County, 38 have solid waste ordinances requiring residential properties to use the hauler contracted by their municipalities, Lee Raring, solid waste and recycling coordinator for Schuylkill County, said Monday.
"Those numbers were collected in August 2011. And those are the most recent ones we have on file," Raring said.
Schuylkill County encourages municipalities to adopt these ordinances, Raring said.
"In the 29 communities in the county that do not have contracted collection, some of the residents there use haulers we're not too familiar with, a Joe Smith who brings in his pick up truck with plywood on the sides. And we don't know where he's going with his garbage," Raring said.
While the city adopted its ordinance requiring residential properties to use the city's hauler in 2001, the program didn't begin until early 2003, according to Micka.
The city's first hauler under the program was Waste Management, Camp Hill, which had a three-year contract from 2003 to 2006. The city's second was J.P. Mascaro & Sons, Reading, which had a four-year contract until 2010.
In December 2010, the city awarded a five-year, $3,930,660 contract to Kreitzer Sanitation, Orwigsburg, the low bidder.
By contracting the hauler, the city can give residents a better price, Palamar said.
The city has a population of "about 14,800," according to Palamar. The flat-rate trash bill the city charges each residence is $51 per quarter, according to Micka.
For that, residents are allowed to put out "unlimited trash and one bulk item a month. If you live in ... Pottsville, there's no reason why you should ever have to throw your box spring out on the Burma Road. You can get rid of a bulk item once a month. You can get rid of your dressers. You can get rid of old furniture," Palamar said.
The city traditionally collects 90 percent of its trash bills. On the books there are "about $145,000" in delinquent bills," Devitt said.
The city turns over the names of trash delinquents to Central Credit Audit Inc., Sunbury, a specialist in collecting such bills. "We try to be as proactive as possible getting people to pay," Palamar said.
While the city requires its residents to use the hauler contracted by the city, the city doesn't require commercial properties to, Palamar said.
"It would be too difficult. With commercial haulers, those accounts can be varied and vast. We would have no way to be able to control commercial accounts. We couldn't provide unlimited business hauling. How would you bid that? You couldn't get a comparative price on that in any way. With businesses, that's really a private issue. And they can contract with a hauler to serve their individual needs better than we can," Palamar said.
"But our residents are people we provide services to on a general basis with streets, police protection and so forth," Palamar said.