11-11-13 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 11,2013 major issue out there with this pile that is the size of a football field 19 feet high of plastic contaminated yard waste that we need to do something with. A couple months ago we received from IDEM a notice of violation letter saying you guys have to step up your efforts and make something happen out there and so the Is` step in that phase is changing the Municipal Code to ban plastic bags so that they will no longer be allowed to have yard waste put in them. So in its place what we will do is allow for them to put yard waste in paper bags,biodegradable bags; or residential supplied containers up to a weight limit of 35 lbs. per bag or container. We have also added at the Council's recommendation a program that would allow the residents to rent bins similar to their trash bins, their 95 gallon yard waste bins, and their brown, specifically saying yard waste only on them at the cost of$2.00 a month for the months of April—November for a total of$16.00 a year. The cost of which is less than what is would cost for them to buy a couple plastic bags each week. So, we have also in this ordinance changed the effective date to reflect the January 1, 2014, effective date and also of course the language that we put in their to replace bin that are either lost or stolen up to one (1) per calendar year. I would be happy to answer any questions. Councilmember Dieter: Yes, I do. In regards to the 35 lbs., how will that be determined? Because I could see an instance where somebody may put something out, leaves, and then it rains, and the bag becomes a little heavier, how will that? Eric Horvath: Right now we currently have that same requirement that is kind of an internal requirement and has been there for a long time, it's currently on our website, and it's just not in the ordinance and not in the code. So we are adding it to that. I think that the idea of the 35 lbs. is that risk and safety people were looking at that as a safe measure for repetitive tasks, so if we've got let's say an instance one that's over the weight limit, we are not going to bring a scale around with us, I would imagine the guys are just going to try an empty it. If it's really bad you know there might be some way to empty one of the lighter ones and then dump some leaves in another one, or something like that. It's not our intent not to pick it up; however, having said that if we get a container full of bricks, we are obviously not going to pick it up. Councilmember Dieter: I just want to avoid something that if there was a confrontation and somebody says well it's not you're not going to argue, you're just going to say thank you we will get it. Eric Horvath: Great question. Councilmember Henry Davis Jr.: You listed several remedies for this, one was biodegradable bags and also paper bags are there a listing or a showing of where people can purchase those items at? Eric Horvath: Yes, and I apologize, at one of the previous presentation we had a list that gave the current prices. They range around $2.00 for 5 paper bags. The standard places to get them were Wal-Mart, Menards, Lowe's, Home Depot or a couple local hardware stores such as Ace Hardware. Councilmember Henry Davis Jr.: That's fine, the only reason that I asked that question is could we communicate to a larger audience. I don't know if you guys are looking to put that inside the water bill where the Mayor's notes usually go into or somewhere on our website, so that folks would know it's not just a knee jerk reaction saying well you are trying to charge some more, but in such a way people would know, ok, well it's not that bad and these are some places where I can purchase these item at so I can replace my plastic bags with paper bags or biodegradable bags. It's just a way of informing the community. Eric Horvath: Thanks, that's a great point, we need to and have had a lot of press on this issue and it's going to be effective January 1, 2014, so people are going to forget about it next leaf