By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
With the clock ticking on the terms of an existing contract, a Union Grove panel is in the early stages of exploring refuse and recycling options in the year ahead.
The village has a contract with Burlington-based ASDA Enterprises Inc., which sunsets at the end of 2018. With the agreement nearing its end, officials are in the early stages of exploring possible changes.
The Union Grove Administration Committee on Jan. 8 held the second monthly meeting to explore how the village should handle refuse and recycling services in 2019 and beyond.
No directives came out of the most recent meeting, though further big-picture reviews are planned in the road ahead.
“No decisions were made at the Administration Committee meeting,” Village Administrator Mark Janiuk wrote in an email when asked about the Jan. 8 gathering. “Discussions will continue at the next meeting.”
The three-person Administration Committee is comprised of three of the village’s trustees: Alan Jelinek, who serves as chair, Tim Mallach and Jan Winget.
According to minutes of the Administration Committee’s meeting in December, panelists began their foray into the big-picture exploration by possibly changing up how residents store trash and recycling in the future.
The existing method of using bins and garbage cans and bags could be traded in for uniform garbage and recycling carts, though the exact methodology continues to remain under the microscope within the confines of the committee.
At the most recent meeting, Janiuk said committee members looked at how the change-up might impact residents. During this preliminary-stage review, village officials are looking to their nearby peer communities and seeing how the service is carried out.
“There was general discussion concerning how other communities handle refuse/recycling, and the pros and cons of using wheeled carts,” Janiuk said.
Winget, according to December meeting minutes, singled out Rochester and said she would be interested in learning more about the municipality’s experience with carts.
At the December meeting, committee members also had tentative reservations about switching to carts, citing their size, compared to the current bags, bins and cans that are used to store unwanted items.
Separate refuse and recycling carts, by contrast, could pose space challenges, panelists said at the December meeting, according to the minutes. Carts also would require the village to lock into a long-term contract with a hauler — likely at a minimum of five years.
In addition to exploring how trash and recycling should be stored within residences in the future, panelists are mining Janiuk’s expertise in drawing up contracts.
The village administrator said the committee at its Jan. 8 meeting also began looking at “what should be included in an RFP (request for proposals), if the village decides to go that route.”
No firm timetable is in place for the refuse and recycling review underway, though any recommendations within the Administration Committee would eventually be funneled to the full Village Board for further review and adoption.
The committee’s next steps include developing a list of wants and needs for the future.
-
-
-
-
-