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City Plans to Dig Into Its Trash Contract

March 2, 2006

By LOYD BRUMFIELD News Editor / Today Newspapers

Cedar Hill is staring a big can of worms in the face, Mayor Rob Franke said. The general reaction from most members of the city council was, “Open it.”

That “can of worms” is trash — the way it’s collected, how it’s disposed of and who does the collecting and the disposing.

The council conducted a workshop on the issue Feb. 21 at the Cedar Hill Recreation Center, and the consensus was that even though the city is satisfied with its trash service, it can’t hurt to take a closer look at see if it’s getting the best possible value out of its services.

The city’s contract with Allied Waste (formerly Trinity Waste Services) will expire in June. Cedar Hill has used the company for its trash pickup for about 25 years and has extended the contract regularly. The most recent extension took place in 2002.

During the workshop, the council took a look at several issues, including the bidding process for soliciting new services, whether to have separate contracts for hauling and disposal, the frequency of bulky/brush pickup and whether to go to once-a-week pickup instead of the current twice-a-week arrangement.

“I’m satisfied with Allied, but you don’t know what’s out there unless you look,” Council member Wade Emmert said. “I think we owe it to our citizens to see what’s out there.”

Franke said re-evaluating the city’s contract was probably an appropriate move.

A recent survey of city leadership and staffers turned up satisfactory results for the way trash is handled, said Melissa Valadez-Stephens, assistant to City Manager Alan Sims.

The city received 161 survey responses earlier in the year, with 13 percent of respondents saying they were “extremely satisfied” with the city’s current services and 52 percent were “satisfied.” Fourteen percent of respondents were “dissatisfied,” 5 percent were “extremely dissatisfied” and 16 percent were neutral.

In addition, survey respondents were extremely satisfied with bulky/brush pickup at an 8 percent rate, while 33 percent fell in the satisfied camp. Neutral responses total 37 percent.

City workers were also asked how they would change bulky/brush pickup, and 59 percent said they would increase the frequency of pickup and 20 percent said they would increase the amount allowed to be picked up. Currently, the city collects bulky items (tree limbs, etc.) on a quarterly basis.

“I don’t get too many complaints (about brush pickup), but people do want it to get picked up more often,” Council member Greg Patton said. “But if you picked up more often, I think you’ll see more complaints.”

Council member Daniel Haydin echoed Patton. “The biggest complaint I get is people who keep their trees trimmed don’t like it when it sits out forever,” he said.

Also in the survey, 48 percent of respondents said they would support roll-out poly-cart trash bins — giant bins designed to handle several loads of trash — while 38 percent wouldn’t.

A few council members said they didn’t hear much from citizens about trash collection. “The people I talk to are very satisfied with the services we provide them,” Patton said. “I’m surprised the poly carts showed 48 percent, because no one I talk to wants them.”

In evaluating the frequency of trash pickup, surveys indicated an overwhelming desire to stick with twice-a-week pickup rather than once a week. “I remember from having young children that once-a-week pickup gets a little raunchy in the summer with diapers,” Patton said, adding that food rots faster in hot-weather months.

Emmert said the survey results are fine but the city shouldn’t take them to heart too seriously.

“Let’s not forget the survey was sent to people on boards and on the city council,” he said. “It’s not a statistically valid survey … until we send it out to the citizens in general.”

Cedar Hill charges a $10.29 rate for residential customers, which puts it roughly in the middle of several other Metroplex cities studied, Valadez-Stephens said. Duncanville charged the highest rate among the other cities at $13.29, while Waxahachie turned in a low rate of $5.82. Several cities surveyed said they saved money by separating hauling and disposal contracts, including Duncanville, DeSoto, Allen, Plano and Highland Park, among others.

Most Cedar Hill council members expressed support for separate contracts if it meant saving the city money, but they are unclear on how it would work. As far as he knows, no city that has separate contracts has gone back to single contracts, Sims said.

“I don’t have a dog in that fight, but if it (the contracts) is separated, I would think the savings had better be pretty good,” Haydin said.

Council member Clifford Shaw said if there’s a sense of satisfaction with trash service, “the question’s going to be, if everybody’s satisfied, then why are we considering changing?”

Makia Epie had an eloquent answer: “It’s always nice to shake the body a little bit to see if the sugar has sedimented at the bottom.”

Contact Loyd Brumfield at cedarhill@todaynewspapers.net.

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