Trash Pick Up Causes Concern
By Leslie Rott

When the Ordinance Committee met Tuesday, July 12, a simple discussion about times for garbage pick-up turned into greater concerns about stagnant trash and labeling bags.

According to Department of Public Works Director Bruce Zimmerman, the language in the ordinance for garbage pick-up times is incorrect. The ordinance specifies that trash pick-up is at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day, but the morning pick-up time is actually 9 a.m. Another change made to the ordinance has been street names. Owing to the new mapping system, what was considered Huron Street in the ordinance is now Main Street and what was considered Marshall Road is now named Huron Street.

Committee Member Michael Hart brought up an issue regarding afternoon trash pick-up. According to Mr. Hart, trash picked up at 4 p.m. does not make it to the Solid Waste Handling Facility until the next morning, and sits in open drays in a barn on Seventh Street in Harrisonville.

“My concern is that we have an open dray with garbage in it in a residential area,” he said. “Especially in this heat, it can’t be a very pleasant situation for people.”

Fire Chief Dennis Bradley, who was at the meeting to discuss the burn ordinance, suggested that the Solid Waste Handling Facility stagger shift times so that workers could be at the facility to handle the afternoon trash pick-up.

Mr. Zimmerman said that he demands a clean facility and, as such, the gates are locked at 5 p.m. Mr. Hart pointed out that closing at 5 p.m. and having downtown trash pick-up at 4 p.m. “narrows the pick-up time.” He suggested that Mr. Zimmerman consider keeping the facility open until 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. to receive the afternoon delivery, so it wouldn’t have to sit in a residential area for more than 12 hours. Mr. Zimmerman said that staying open later would increase the cost to the city, as workers at the Solid Waste Handling Facility would have to be paid overtime.

Mayor Margaret Doud suggested that the drays be parked at the Solid Waste Handling Facility and then the trash could be dealt with in the morning, but Mr. Zimmerman said that workers would still have to be paid overtime to wait for the garbage drays to arrive at the facility and be allowed in. The Mayor suggested that Mr. Hart’s concerns were “a point well taken,” and suggested that further review is needed on the issue.

Another issue that was brought up was the labeling of bags. As the current ordinance stands, compost, yard waste, and recycling bags are supposed to be labeled, as part of the Department of Public Works resident education program, so the DPW can make sure that everyone on the Island understands what is appropriately considered compost, yard waste, and recyclables, as opposed to non- processable waste, which is considered garbage. Blue landfill bags, which go to the landfill, do not need to be labeled and single-family residences are exempt from labeling their compost bags. Right now, however, nobody is labeling their compost, yard waste or recyclable bags.

When asked, Mr. Zimmerman said that he did not know the best way to get people to comply with the ordinance, which has not been enforced thus far. Mr. Hart said that a “Magic Marker would do just fine” as a way to label the bags. Mayor Doud suggested that the DPW send labels to people in their bills. The issue was dropped, however, and will need further discussion.

In other business at the meeting, the committee will recommend to the city council that the ordinance for Enhanced 9-1-1 street numbering change the requirement for building number size from two inches to three inches, minimum. This means that when houses are assigned addresses, owners will have to display numbers at least three-inches-tall, making them visible to emergency responders.

Another discussion involved the wording of how addresses are going to be referred to. As originally proposed, floors in buildings have been labeled with a letter, instead of a number, however, in many cases, that could be confusing. Mr. Hart suggested that buildings have letters and that numbers should be used internally. This would mean that a building like Fort Mackinac would have a numbered address, then individual buildings within the Fort would have letters, and floors and rooms within those individual buildings would be numbered.

Also at the meeting, Fire Chief Dennis Bradley and Police Chief William Lenaghan updated the committee on the burn ordinance. They said that they are still working on making additions to the ordinance and need more time to finalize changes.

No date was set for the next meeting of the Ordinance Committee. All ordinance changes recommended by the committee will have to be adopted by the city council.