SANATOGA PA – Pretend you’re the world’s best negotiator. Assume you can broker any deal, tackle any problem, fix any finagle. Given your background and expertise, what would you ask for in a new contract between Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township and a municipal trash collector, and what would you be willing to trade to get it?
Besides lower costs, that is; the township Board of Commissioners is already hinting they seem unlikely.
The question is real, not imaginary, and commissioners hope residents prove willing to provide answers within the next few weeks. Lower Pottsgrove intends to circulate a survey, enclosed in its March (2011) semi-annual bills for waste hauling, that asks property owners to suggest how they might “tweak” trash services as the township prepares to negotiate a new garbage collection contract, according to Assistant Manager Alyson Elliott.
Its current five-year agreement with hauler J.P. Mascaro and Sons of Norristown PA expires this year.
Garbage collection is a sore spot beneath the fur of the township political dog. No one wants to pay for throwing stuff away, but that effort consumes a significant portion – more than $836,000 and almost 8 percent – of the $5.3 million 2011 budget. Every one wants extra for what they already pay, too, Elliott said: pick-up of more trash cans and removal of all yard waste, as well as hauling away items like household appliances and unwanted furniture.
“We’re looking for suggestions before we seek bids on the trash contract,” Elliott told the Board of Commissioners during its Feb. 17 meeting. “We know there are concerns out there. We’d like to know how widespread they are, and we hope to pull out and examine areas of dissatisfaction,” she said.
Board members are no strangers to public grumpiness about garbage. They’ve been plenty trashed over the trash before.
During several meetings and elsewhere last year commissioners heard from residents unhappy about the cost per garbage bag discarded, particularly among families who try to recycle as much as possible. They were verbally pummeled by those peeved about how garbage cans are cracked, dented or mauled by uncaring collection workers; and from others fuming over inconsistencies in the collection of recyclable materials.
The surveys “potentially could be a very helpful tool,” board President Jonathan Spadt said. If bill-payers return them in the same envelopes as their checks, gathering opinions will cost little as well, he noted.
Elliott and the commissioners briefly discussed the possibility of putting the survey online as well, but that idea has yet to be developed.
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Feb. 17 meeting):
- Lower Pottsgrove Seeks Suggestions In A Trash Survey
- Township Prepares For Bids On Building Fix-It List
- Watch Your Speedometer! Sanatoga Street Slows 5 Mph
- Township OKs Restaurant Liquor License For Chummy’s
- Township’s Reduced Bond Sale Rates High S&P Praise
- Lower Pottsgrove A Likely Co-Signer For Sewer Loans
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[...] Lower Pottsgrove Seeks Suggestions In A Trash Survey Think you’ve got a suggestion or two that could help improve trash collection in Lower Pottsgrove? The township staff is all ears; help it by completing a survey due for distribution next month. [...]