Marion considering private trash pickup
Staff writer
Marion is considering dropping residential trash collection and hiring a private company to pick up trash.
A proposal from Nisly Brothers, which recently took over collection of residential recyclables in the city, is scheduled to be discussed at a city council meeting at 5 p.m. Dec. 22.
Under the proposal, the city still would bill residents for trash collection. Most residents now pay $10.50 a month. Nisly’s proposal would increase the fee to $14 or $15 a month, depending on options chosen.
Instead of plastic bags provided by the city and various types of trash containers, each residence would receive a 90-gallon cart with secure lid.
All trash would have to be placed within the cart each week. Additional carts would be available for $7 extra a month.
The monthly fee would be $14 if residents placed carts along the curb of residential streets or on one designated side of residential alleys.
The fee would increase to $15 if trash were collected from either side of alleys.
Monthly fees also would increase $1 if a five-year agreement were selected instead of a 10-year one.
During the term of the contract, prices would increase after two years with inflation.
Nisly would offer to purchase the city’s existing trash trucks and containers at market value and suggests the city would save by not having to staff or schedule trash collection; by not having to buy, maintain, or insure trash trucks; and by not being exposed to liability if trash collectors are injured.
The proposal does not detail how many city workers might be laid off if the city got out of the trash business.
Nor does it suggest how businesses and other non-residences would dispose of their trash and at what cost.
It does, however, state that Nisly would provide free service to city-owned buildings and parks.
Most residences also pay $125 annually to the county to support operation of the county transfer station.
The city council also will consider a proposal limiting where and when trash containers can be placed for pickup.
The proposal would require that containers on streets be set out at the curb line but forbid containers being placed in streets.
It also would forbid their being set out in streets any earlier than 5 p.m. the day before pickup and any later than 8 a.m. the day of pickup.
They also would have to be returned to an area behind the front of the residence within 24 hours after pickup.
The proposal would seem to require that all trash be placed inside closed plastic bags like those provided by the city and that the bags be placed inside some unspecified form of container.
The proposal would further require that containers be regularly cleaned.
The council is scheduled to hear public comments on both proposals before considering them.