Wednesday, April 08, 2009

St. Louis County Issues Citations For Enforcement of Trash Regulation

St. Louis County has started issuing citations to county residents stating they are in violation of the St. Louis County Waste Management Code. The citation claims the resident has failed to have in effect an agreement for the collection of waste at their address. The stated fine is $100 which will be waived if they start trash services within 10 days of receipt of the citation.

Most citations issued have been to residents not living in a subdivision and who were unable to opt out of the County’s program. Unfortunately, these residents have been discriminated by the regulation with their pleas being completely ignored by County officials and the County Council. Observers say this is one of the major problems with the regulation. (Click on picture to enlarge)

Some residents dispose of their trash at their place of business. The regulation, as it stands, forces these residents to pay twice – once for their residence and once for their place of business, even though they may be the same place or close by within walking distance.

In some cases, residents combine their trash with another family member. In most cases, this is may be a single parent who has little trash. Right or wrong, the county demands that both parties must pay.

But some county residents can legally dump their trash at work . . . and it’s happening. Here’s how. A subdivision opts out of the county’s program, but does not designate a trash hauler for their subdivision. Residents can legally choose their own hauler . . . or not choose. Under this situation, a resident can take their trash to work or any other place they choose.

Unfortunately, this is only available to residents who live in a subdivision which has opted out of the county’s program and has not designated a hauler. With more than 300 subdivisions not participating in the county program, there are more than a few who have not designated a hauler.

The end result is the subdivision has the same trash program in place as they had three years ago – no change.

Are you being discriminated against? Any questions?

Readers have presented a number of questions and situations with new ones surfacing every few weeks. Here are a few.

1 - Can residents in a neighborhood organize themselves into a subdivision? What is the definition of a subdivision? A check of the dictionary says a subdivision is a term for an urban or suburban area. If that’s the case, a neighborhood may be able to organize themselves into a subdivision.

2 - Another question covers the building of new homes to form a subdivision. Let’s say a builder is building 50 homes and now has occupants in 10 of them. The question is who determines the trash hauler for these 10 - the builder, the 10 residents, or St. Louis County? Will these new homeowners have a chance to opt-out of the county program or are they “stuck?” When can they vote to opt out? When they move in or when all 50 homes are occupied?

3 - As of this writing, there are two lawsuits pending in the courts to throw out the program and require a two year notice to all haulers. The questions fall into two areas. What happens if the county looses these cases? What happens if they win?

If the county looses, will they refund penalties paid by residents on a regulation that has been determined to be illegal? Will the county be faced with lawsuits from trash haulers or residents? Who will pay for any legal actions? (Looks like county residents will pay)

If the county wins, the regulation goes into effect along with enforcement. The only way county citizens can then achieve their freedom of choice is at the polls.

>> Comments posted:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "St. Louis County Issues Citations For Enforcement ...": The County better hire more Garbage Cops, and build more detention camps. There are literally, 10's of thousands of residents that have now hit the delinquency list.

This program from beginning to hear, has Cost St. Louis county, Cost the County taxpayers, Cost the County residents, Cost the existing trash businesses, and others, Millions of Dollars.

And, if the County looses the law suit, it will cost millions more.Call your council person, call Charlie, Call Gary Earls, but, everyone should be very upset with this situation. Vote them all out of office, they deserve it.

4 comments:

  1. Mike Roberts3:39 PM

    County management and the County council are nuts. If they are violating the law, shoving discrimination in the face of residents, refusing to address these and other issues, and shoving it up the rear end of county residents, they need to be voted out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5:37 PM

    I totally agree with you Mike! I hope that everyone will turn out to vote & vote NO on these people - we need to get them out of office.

    If the County looses this in court, I hope everyone of the people they sent these sitations to files a law suit against them (County Counsel).

    This is what happens when Gov. gets involved wether it's at the State, Local or Federal level! They just need to BUTT OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:49 AM

    The County better hire more Garbage Cops, and build more detention camps. There are literally, 10's of thousands of residents that have now hit the delinquency list.

    This program from beginning to hear, has Cost St. Louis county, Cost the County taxpayers, Cost the County residents, Cost the existing trash businesses, and others, Millions of Dollars.

    And, if the County looses the law suit, it will cost millions more.

    Call your council person, call Charlie, Call Gary Earls, but, everyone should be very upset with this situation.

    Vote them all out of office, they deserve it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous7:20 AM

    St. Louis County actually hopes more people don't pay their trash bills. This way, St. Louis County can send out more Citations, and collect more violation fees. This has become an easy source of revenue for St. Louis county.

    Don't want trash service, too bad, St. Louis County wants you to have it.

    Don't pay your bill, great, St. Louis County wants you to protest and become delinquent.

    Don't like being told what to do, even better, St. Louis County will Cite you into submission, they will fine you, and if you fail to pay, they will file a lein on your property.

    You are all subjects to the Kingdom of St. Louis County, and failure to comply, will cost you dearly. Bow to the power.

    ReplyDelete