08-14-72 Council Special Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING AUGUST 14, 1972 PUBLIC HEARING (CONTINUED) In rebuttal, Mayor Miller answered some of the questions raised in the public hearing. He said there are 33 city employees who will be eliminated from their jobs if the city does not go into some sort of trash pick -up plan. They would like to keep these people off welfare. He said he would not favor passing just the enforcement portion of any of the ordinances. He said you cannot have city policemen enforcing the trash laws as we do not have the manpower to do this. In regard to enforcement of the County Air Pollution Ordinance, he said there was no increase in the County Budget to allow for enforcement of the ordinance. In regard to inefficiency and lack of proper use of the sanitation vehicles and workers, they are working under a union contract negotiated with the Sanitation Department. Under the new proposal, a new contract would be negotiated with equipment and men working a full eight -hour day. He said the city would only bill for the customers they receive, the private haulers would do their own billing. The $307,000 budget for the Sanitation Department could be eliminated entirely from the 1974 tax base. The city would probably charge $3.00 per month, the same as private haulers, with a lower rate for senior citizens and this would relieve some people from paying for garbage pick -up which they don't use. He said the city administration wants to provide a clean city with an equal program, fair to everyone and to protect every neighborhood. Mr. William Richardson, Director of Public Works, said that at the August 28 budget hearing, the Sanitation Department will be budgeted at $305,000 for 1973. One of the reasons the Mayor is asking for the delay in the effective date until April 1st is because there are a number of legal and fiscal problems to be ironed out. The city would start in October to survey all of the water customers with residences to determine the number of potential customers. They would have to have approval from the State Board of Accounts to allow the money collected by the Utilities Department to be in an accumulating fund for the next year. The Civil City would initially fund the department. During the course of the year, as money is received from the customers, it will be paid to the City Controller. They will then come to the Council to transfer the money into the operating budget for the refuse department. Miss Guthrie asked Mr. Richardson how you can repay the city if you don't know how many customers you will have. Mr. Richardson said that if there were not enough customers, the operating costs would drop. Miss Guthrie then asked if the people the city was serving would have to pay more. Mr. Richardson said that right now they are going in the dark on this matter. Miss Guthrie observed that those were the truest words spoken tonight. Councilman Serge said that his district does not have the problems of some of the other districts in regard to the matter of trash removal but that if people are approached in the right manner they will usually do what is right. He has had good cooperation with the Sanitation Department in cleaning up certain areas in his district. He said when you see someone who is not obeying the law, you should do something about it. Councilman Szymkowiak said that we have a problem with enforcement. He said it is the responsibility of the Health Department to enforce violations of unsanitary conditions, garbage and litter. He suggested two men be assigned to patrol the city, one East of Michigan Street and one West of Michigan Street. These men should patrol the alleys, spot check for debris, and report any violations to the Health Department. He said there needs to be regulation of private haulers' trucks, as some have no tarpaulin, the sidewalls are broken down and they spill trash on the streets. He said the citizens should be educated about the difference between trash and garbage. There should be no garbage put in trash cans. He said that in his district many of the residents do not even have garbage cans. Councilman Miller said that the total city pick -up would cost $850,000, a savings of $650,000 over present costs for trash and garbage pick -up which amount to $1,600.000. Under the total city plan, the cost per household would be $2.00 per month., $1.00 for elderly persons. The city needs to solve the problem of garbage pickup in certain areas. Enforcement is only effective when a small percentage of the people are not complying. He said that to reduce the budget by $300,000, the Sanitation Department budget amount, would amount to a 10� reduction on the tax rate. Councilman Parent said that he did not introduce his trash ordinance to complicate matters. He said he is concerned with the growing problem and the cost of refuse pickup is too high. Under the ordinance he intro- duced, the city would have no more than 20/ of the refuse pickup routes and the private haulers would have 80 %. The one -man, one -truck operation would have difficulty staying in business. However, the ordinance provides that any private hauler who is contracting less than 15% of the city would not have to post a bond. There are still a lot of questions regarding his ordinance, but he said he has questions about the ordinance Mayor Miller is supporting, also. He said that he would like to try to remedy the enforcement provisions of the existing ordinances and continue to study the other proposals. Councilman Taylor said that the question is what kind of respon- sibility does the Council really have toward garbage and trash pickup in South Bend, Indiana. Is it the same responsibility as providing for the Fire Department, the Police Department, and the Street Department? It is mandatory that we are committed to try to have as clean a city as possible. The goal we strive for is to get something better than we have. This problem keeps coming up in Council after Council, nothing has been done and the problem has not gone away. The past several mayors have felt committed to do something to improve the garbage and trash situation. The Independent Trash Haulers have not solved the problem. Mr. Taylor said that Mr. Roper's comments about the vanishing American hit right in the heart as he loves private enter- prise. But he said we should also think about the children who will be bitten by rats in areas where litter and garbage are allowed to accumulate. What about those Americans? He said this is a very emotional issue but the response should not be emotional. He said his first choice would be to retain private enterprise and go along with Councilman Parent's ordinance, with 80/ private haulers and 20/ city pickup. He said competition between the city and private haulers would provide a healthier atmosphere and protect the consumer. He said if the Council fails to act in this matter, it will keep coming up again and again. Councilman Kopczynski said that with the ordinance he has presented there is no bidding. The city would only serve people who are not able to get service at the present time. He said that widows and retired people who do not have a large amount of trash find it hard to find a hauler. The larger entrepreneurs would charge as much as $7.00 a month for such service. He said that those in private enterprise know about com- petition. Government is notorious for being inefficient. He said that, as a businessman he must face competition and that private haulers should not be afraid of competition. He said that putting the trash bill on the water bill was the only way they could come up with and it will let the people know what they are paying and what they are getting. He said the ordinance is misunder stood by many of the people. Councilman Horvath said that there was not much more to add to what had already been said. He said he agreed with Councilman Kopczynski that a lot of this has been misinterpreted. He said that people are now paying a minimum of $36.00 per year for trash removal and another $12 to $14 for garbage pickup on the tax rate. Under the ordinance proposed, this could be cut to $30 to $35 a year for both. The real objective is to clean up the city. Councilman Nemeth said that when this issue first came up in the spring he had announced he would not vote on any ordinance regarding refuse removal because the matter of a conflict of interest might arise, since he had represented the Independent Trash Haulers last year. He said that he would abstain from voting on any refuse ordinance tonight. However, he said he felt a responsi- bility to speak out about this matter. He asked "What is our responsibility as Councilmen ?"