The Commercial-News, Danville, IL

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July 10, 2008

Residents upset about garbage fines

City seeks compliance before new trucks arrive

BY JENNIFER BAILEY

DANVILLE — Colfax Drive resident Don Trosper finds the city’s stricter garbage collection service “kind of appalling.”

He told city officials that Tuesday night.

He and his wife received a $100 fine after receiving a second garbage toter violation letter and a photo showing their wrongdoing of a box sitting outside their toter.

Previously they had a box of yard waste on top of their toter.

“This ticks me off,” Trosper said.

He said there are tall weeds, trash and eyesores elsewhere on his street.

He joked the city must be looking to execute those property owners as a penalty.

Trosper’s comments came a month after Ward 6 Alderman Jon Cooper said he’s also heard complaints, including persons picking up trash and boxes that are not their own, but putting them outside their toters for pick up to clean up the neighborhood.

“We’ve heard that for years,” Mayor Scott Eisenhauer said of those violation excuses.

“The old days of setting things around a garbage container don’t exist anymore,” he previously said. “Everything has to be in a toter.”

Eisenhauer said the previous mailings about the toters and the new garbage collection system to soon start didn’t get residents’ attention for compliance like the fines and violation letters are doing.

“Unfortunately letters placed in toters … have not sunk in for people. It takes that fifth or sixth step to make sure everyone understands compliance,” he said.

He doesn’t call the letters “nasty” as others do, but says people’s perceptions sometimes are.

“We’re trying to work with everyone,” Eisenhauer said.

He said the city wanted to try to meet compliance before making the transition to the new automated garbage trucks.

If all the garbage won’t fit, residents can call the public works department in advance for a special pickup.

So far of the approximately 10,000 garbage accounts, the city has issued less than 1,500 violation letters and 100 fines.

This stricter policy is in preparation for the new automated garbage trucks that officials expected to start using this month.

“We should be getting them soon,” Public Works Director Doug Ahrens said.

Aldermen in February approved purchasing four new Heil automated garbage trucks from Central Indiana Truck Equipment Corp. of Indianapolis for $634,456. The cost is after truck trade-ins of five older trucks.

One employee will operate each of the new garbage trucks that will have an automated arm to lift the toters.

City officials put a multiyear plan in place to phase in automated garbage truck operations. The once $15 monthly residential garbage fee increased to $17.50 in May and will increase to $18 in May 2009.

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