Mount Vernon city administrator Chris Nosbisch said the city has received more than 700 responses for what container sizes citizens want for waste management by Republic Waste Management by the beginning of April.
“That’s 20 percent more than I expected to have received thus far,” Nosbisch said.
Nosbisch said the City of Mount Vernon will have a three-day pick-up rotation, with the same truck collecting waste and recycling. The pick-up schedule will still focus on different quadrants.
One of the decision points that Nosbisch wanted the council to consider is if snowbirds would be allowed to pause their waste management services. He suggested if the city were to treat this like true snowbirds, that people would have to be gone from the community for three months. The council took no action on snowbirds at this moment.
Council member Scott Rose asked what the plans are for tags that people might have purchased before.
Nosbisch said he was planning on having a buyback period for those old garbage tags when Mount Vernon switches over to the container pick-ups instead.
Nosbisch said the other issue is how to address the low to moderate income programs for people who need that assistance for garbage fees. The current program provides tags to those who were LMI individuals.
Many who qualify for LMI are renters, instead of property owners, or in the case of the mobile home court, the waste management is paid for by the owners of the court and then they will have to reimburse the costs.
One of the key takeaways in education for citizens is the importance of recycling materials to be clean.
“If recycling materials are not clean, they’re going to be headed to the landfill, as opposed to a recycling center,” said council member Stephanie West.
When it comes to glass recycling, Nosbisch said that plan is for that to happen at the Bryant Park site for public works, especially after cameras have been installed.