Borough considering privatizing garbage collection
Idea is exploratory, not set-in-stone
SHENANDOAH – The borough is looking into privatizing trash collection in Shenandoah, citing ongoing issues with personnel and increases in trash collected.
Borough Council approved a motion to allow the sanitation committee to investigate privatizing the service, which is wholly undertaken by the borough currently, at their meeting Monday evening.
“This doesn’t mean we’re going to, we’re just looking into the pros and cons of it,” Council President Gordon Slater said.
The mere idea didn’t sit well with one member of the crowd, who attempted to interject prior to the vote.
After the unanimous vote, the man spoke to another in the crowd about the issue, disrupting the meeting, and was asked to quiet down.
“Hey, it’s a crock of s—, I’m leaving. You could have guys from Shenandoah run it, but you want to privatize it and raise everything up,” he said, before leaving borough police Patrolman William Moyer entered, ready to escort him out.
Asked by the Sentinel after the meeting what brought the idea to the surface, Slater said, “Manpower, and so much garbage that’s being picked up now, it’s getting harder on the guys.”
“They’re making four or five trips up to the landfill anymore,” Tony Sajone, borough manager, added.
“It doesn’t mean we’re going to, but if we do [privatize the garbage collection], those guys would be available to take care of other things within the borough,” Slater said.
Normally, the borough would take only one or two loads to the landfill per day, which has increased to four or five, increasing the disposal costs, Sajone said, which has led to late pickups.
“We want to try to restrict how much [residents] are putting out,” Sajone said. “Lately they’ve been getting these big construction bags.”
The limit is supposed to be five, Sajone said, though some are putting that many construction-sized bags out, as well as construction refuse.
“We’re going to put a stop to it. It’s for household garbage, not for construction or remodeling garbage,” Sajone said.
A looming issue is the condition of the borough’s aging garbage truck.
“Shustack’s [Welding of Turkey Run], has been patching it together for us for years now, and the driver came back the last time and said, ‘just so you know, they said you’ll get about a year out of this,'” Sajone said.
Sajone further emphasized that the matter isn’t set-in-stone.
“This just came up in the workshop the other day, and we said ‘Hey, let’s take a look,'” Sajone said. “We haven’t even started contacting anybody. We just wanted people to know that we’re looking into it.”
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