More comments from residents

A STL County resident speaks out . . .

“I received an email from the district manager for IESI, in response to a critical email I sent him, saying that this could have been done even cheaper if they could send out only one bill each quarter to the county rather than thousands to the citizens. It seems that the county wants all the benefits but none of the responsibilities. Why do we individually pay the haulers who have a contract with the county, not us? If the county contracts for a new road does everyone who uses the road have to send a check to the contractor?”

What’s interesting is there is a written “contract” between St. Louis County and IESI (and the other haulers). There is no “contract” between a homeowner and IESI. In addition there is no “contract” between county residents and St. Louis County. St. Louis County contracted with a hauler in our behalf and we had no choice in the matter. Is this legal? It’s questionable.

Now if I do not pay IESI, IESI does not sue me for non-payment, but the County does.

Other questions arise. All of the money paid by residents goes to the trash haulers, and none (supposedly) to the County. The County is administering the program and the enforcement at a cost to all taxpayers. No financial records have been released regarding the expenses being incurred by the County but estimates have it way into the millions.

According to Garry Earls, Chief Operating Officer, a forecast of the County’s general funds would become insolvent between 2010 and 2012 unless they dramatically reduce costs. In his report, there was no mention of the costs being incurred by the trash program. This report was dated July 21, 2008.

Should there be a law requiring citizens to have a trash service? Yes.

Is St. Louis County in the trash business? No, but it should be. Should the county bill for trash services as required by law? Yes

Should the County select the trash haulers for residents? No. Let the individual subdivisions select their haulers.

Should the County allow subdivisions to opt out? It’s ridiculous in passing a law that allows citizens an option to comply or not comply.

When the trash contract comes up for re-bidding, should subdivisions be allowed to opt out as part of the re-bidding process? Yes. If you’re going to re-bid the costs, you should allow subdivisions a choice just as was done at the start of the program.

Oh, yes.  This program is in desperate need of an audit and report to the taxpayers.

If I Could Wave the Magic Wand

A north county resident writes . . .

"If I could wave the Magic Wand things would be different. The County could have saved everyone a lot of time and energy if they had used some common sense. I basically like the idea of recycling and the two bulky pick-up a year and weekly trash pick-up. Had the County focused on the licensing of hauler requiring them to provide recycling service, two bulky pick ups and weekly trash service as a part of the basic monthly service to be billed to the resident and let the resident select their hauler everything would have been fine.

The County has not thought this program through. At first they said they wanted fewer trash trucks on the streets. Then that was changed for those of us who opted-out. If a subdivision opted-out they can have as many haulers as they like in their subdivision.

Fortunately, for me our subdivision opted-out and selected one hauler. Thus we have fewer trucks and a reasonable rate for service. Best of all we are dealing with a local hauler rather than a multi-international company.

All is well with me and frankly I thank the County for making such a mess. I don’t think it is in the best interest of those who did not have the option to opt-out to have to be stuck with a monopoly situation.

I think it is going to be very interesting to look at the entire situation three or five years from now when the rates charged by the monopoly haulers are out of sight.

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A reader responds . . .

"Unfortunatly, there was no Magic Wand. In the early stages of county planning on this effort, the local haulers and their State organization, National Solid Waste, did meet many times with County officials and staff to discuss all of these options. More than several recommendations were offered by the haulers and plenty of good working models were presented to the County.

The County effort lead by Charlie Dooley and carried out by Garry Earls turned down every single industry offer, every single industry suggestion, and finally turned off communications with the industry haulers.

They were bound and determined to do things their way and they weren't interested in listening to common sense, and professional folks who have dealt with these services for years. The County had no interest in any compromise or concession.

The County was warned of the backlash and informed of the outcome. But the County felt that they had all the answers and wanted the control.Now they have it.

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And another resident writes . . .

"The reality of this botched up plan, is simply another example of just how bad St. Louis County is run. It's not only the Solid Waste mess, but the county has screwed up Re-Assesment, has screwed up Metro Link, now the trash services, etc.

They refuse to pay police officers and more money, but yet continue to waste tax payers money on crazy political wimsey. It is time that Taxpayers revolt, and vote down every additional tax increase the County is seeking, until they can prove Responsibility as well as Accountability.

And, while you are voting, send home all those responsible for ignoring us Taxpayers. We need new leadership.

MY WIFE AND I ARE CHOOSING TO "OPT-OUT" OF THE COUNTY'S TRASH DEAL

"My wife and I were most pleased to learn yesterday that the County's lawyer has confirmed that, even though we don't live in a sub-division, there is nothing the County can do to stop us from using American Eagle to pick up our trash. American Eagle has done a great job for us for over two years since we moved to South County and we want them back."

"About two weeks ago we received a letter from Allied Waste that claimed the County had given them the authority to pick up our trash starting this week. After we heard about the statement of the County's lawyer at the Council meeting that confirmed we can use any hauler we wish, we contacted American Eagle to ask them how we can restart using their services. They said that they would be sending a form to their customers in the Trash Districts which they can use to authorize them to restart service at the beginning of next month. They also said that they would communicate with Allied to tell them that they should stop picking up our trash at the end of this month."

"I'm sure many of your readers will be pleased to learn that they have regained the ability to 'opt-out' of the County's Plan."

Tony and Kate Niskanen

St. L County Trash Districts

The above chart illustrates the households which have opted-out of the County's trash program. District 7 has 41.54% opting out and District 8 has 46.50%. With this high number of households not participating in the program, the remaining households will undoubtedly be paying highing a higher rate than other districts. It's only common sense.

"NEW" - Subdivisions Moving to Opt-Out

As of January 25, more than 200 subdivisions choose to opt-out of the County's trash program. If your subdivision is "opting-out," please let us know and share your action with other subdivisions. Also, if your subdivision is "opting-in," send us a note. Since the February 1 "deadline" has passed, we may be discontinuing this list. If we can get a list of all 200+, we will publish this.

Subdivisions opting out (2/15/08):

Arbor Oaks, (192 homes) West County
Chalet Forest Subdivision (148 homes) South County
Chestnut Park, (351 homes) South County
Concordia Village Subdivision, (48 homes) Southwest County
Country Village Hills II, (108 homes) North County
Fontainbleau Estates, (18 homes) North County
Fox Woods, (206 homes) North County
Golden Gables (87 homes) South County
Green Valley Estates, (95 homes) South County
Hathaway Manor South (1,062) North County
Hawks View Estates (142 Homes) South County
Herman's Orchard (67 Homes) North County
Lake of The Woods Addition (67 homes) South County
Lake of the Wood Subdivision, (392 homes), South County
Mission Park East Plat 3, (142 homes) North County
Oakbriar Meadows Addition, (74) South County
Paddock Forest (434 homes & 270 condos) North County
Paddock Forest Addition No. 5, (75 homes) North County
River Walk at Bee Tree Park Subdivision (64 homes), South County
Royal Hills (106 homes) South County
Silver Leaves Subdivision, (36 homes) Southwest County
Silver Springs Plantation, (36 homes) South County
Tealridge Improvement Assoc. ,(120 homes)
Timber HillsTowne South (715 homes) South County
Village at Paddock Lake (73 homes) North County
Wood Glen Subdivision (7) South County
Wynfield Estates (124 homes) South County
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More 210 Subdivisions Opt-out Of County Trash Program

More than 210 Subdivisions have rejected the County’s trash program and chose to opt out of the assigned trash districts. This is for the entire St. Louis County Unincorporated area. These subdivisions include over 18,000 households and represent around 19% of the total households. Note, these statistics are estimates with the final totals expected to be somewhat higher.

The South County area is taking the brunt of this program with four of the eight trash districts included in this area. As of January 25, South County had 158 of 201 subdivisions requesting to opt out which included 11,572 households out of 17,079. This represents 67% of households not wanting this program.

This percentage parallels that of a county-wide survey taken last November by this website. The survey showed 66.5% of county residents do not want the County to select their trash hauler.

60.5% responded saying they felt the County program, as proposed, is not a workable program.

Hello?
.

Where are our super heros when we need them?

Time Running Out to Opt-out of County Trash Program

Time is quickly running out for subdivisions to “opt-out” of St. Louis County’s Trash District Program. The deadline to opt-out is Saturday, February 1, 2008.

Share this message with your trustee directors if your subdivision is interested in opting out of the county program since this process must be initiated and supported by a majority of your trustee directors.

St. Louis County does not have any regulations regarding the process that a subdivision must use to opt-out of their program so it can be done by obtaining signatures, a response or non-response to a letter, or they will even accept the word of your trustee directors, which one county official calls “the honor system.”

There is still time to opt-opt if your trustee directors can get a letter in the mail within the next few days and set a deadline for response/non-response before the end of January, allowing time to submit your documentation to the county via mail or in person. It’s recommend that trustee directors send their documentation via certified mail with return receipt requested so that you will have a record for your subdivision files.

The required information consists of the following:

(1) an Opt-Out Certification Form signed by a majority of your trustee directors attesting that they are acting on behalf of the subdivision homeowners,

(2) a list of all of the residential addresses in your subdivision,

(3) a copy of your subdivision indenture or other legal document which proves that your subdivision has an active form of governance, (Note: this is optional and not required) and

(4) a list of your current trustee directors (include name, address and contact information).

There are two final important points: (1) it’s still questionable if your subdivision will need to contract with a specific hauler in order to opt-out at this time and (2) if your subdivision opts-out now but decides to opt-out later for any reason, your subdivision has the option to opt back in to the county program once. However, once a subdivision opts back in to the county program they cannot ever opt-out again.

Confusing, isn’t it? And, if your subdivision does not opt-out before the February 1 deadline, you do not have the option to opt-out and are stuck forever with the St. Louis County program.

We hope the above has clarified rather than confused you more about this highly controversial and confusing program that your St. Louis County Council, County Executive and his department colleagues have concocted, as they state that the purpose of this program is to reduce the number of trash trucks on your subdivision streets and to spur recycling. As many residents are aware, there is much more to this story than meets the eye, and it should be interesting to see how this plays out in the months to come as there is still a lot of opposition to this program. There are two groups have been formed in recent months to fight this unpopular legislation.

Please feel free to forward this message on to anyone who may be interested in receiving this information as well as sharing it with anyone who does not have access to e-mail or the internet.

Submitted by: Greg Porter, Chairman
North St. Louis County Problem Solving Committee

County Trash Opt-out Guidelines from Fox Woods Subdivision

Several subdivisons have developed letters and guidelines to inform their residents about the county's trash program. Fox Woods Subdivision developed their document which is available for downloading. You can download the Word document and modify the text for your subdivision - or retype the document from either file below with your own personalized info. Thanks to Greg Porter with Paddock Forest and Fox Woods Subdivision for submitting this information.

This is available as either a Word file or a .pdf file. Just click on the desired format.

Word (Microsoft)
http://www.mydocsonline.com/pub/wrogers/FoxWoodsOptOut.doc

Adobe PDF format
http://www.mydocsonline.com/pub/wrogers/FoxWoodsOptOut.pdf

Do you have any comments or suggestions? If you'd like to share your subdivisions information with others, please send it to us at: subtrustees@swbell.net.

Subdivision Looking For Answers Asks for Your Help

We received an e-mail from a subdivision and we responded with our thoughts and input received from other subdivisions . . . but we would like to get more input. If you would, please cut and paste the following questions into a new email and send it to us along with your subdivision’s input to: subtrustees@swbell.net.

1. Can you furnish us with a sample of any letters you sent to your residents explaining the trash program and asking homeowners if they wish to opt-out? (If you have a letter you can share, please send us a copy)

2. How do you certify that the haulers serving your subdivision offer at least once per week pick-up, once per week recycling pick-up and twice per year bulky waste pick-up?

3. Did you call your trash carrier to certify their services or did you get it in writing?

4. Is or did your subdivision use a simple majority vote to opt out?

We’re setting up a list of subdivisions who have chosen to opt-out along with those who are opting in. Please drop us a note and let us know which direction your subdivision of going. Send to: subtrustees@swbell.net.