Outrage over one-hauler trash pickup takes over York Township meeting

YORK TWP. — "We didn't want this and didn't ask for this," said numerous residents Thursday during a meeting of York Township trustees, expressing outrage over the township's decision to hand over all trash service to a single hauler. Roughly 75 people packed into the York Township Office Building, 6609 Norwalk Road, and spoke directly to trustees until about 9 p.m. with most grievances centering on the inability to opt out of pickup service and a perceived lack of communication from the township regarding the change. While officials maintained that a notification was sent out to residents by mail in December, Trustee Todd Zieja did acknowledge a "communications failure." Residents asked why further means such as email and social media were not used but were not given a clear answer. "There was a lack of communication and we are taking the blame for that," Zieja said. "We will take the blame for that and I apologize." Trustee Bill Pavlick, who has spearheaded efforts to consolidate to a single-hauler, said the December mailer was the only formal notification given to residents. He said the responsibility to mail that notification fell upon the township's now-only hauler, Rumpke Waste & Recycling. "Rumpke did send it out first class," he said. "It was Rumpke's responsibility but they did send it out. We followed the guidelines of the other townships who have done this before us. Medina County Solid Waste also helped us through the process. They guided us because, honestly, we've never done this before. "Montville Township did it and when they did it, there was no opt-out. They got some pushback on that from the people. They went with three percent. We went with 6 percent." Pavlick also said that under contract provisions, residents who do not pay trash pickup bills will see those charges added to their property tax assessments. Meeting attendees openly told trustees they do not plan on paying for service under Rumpke. Throughout the meeting, residents cited minutes from previous trustee discussions they interpreted as saying that anyone who wished to opt out of service under Rumpke would be able to. A 6-percent opt-out limit was set under the contract with the opt-out window occurring throughout January. That limit was quickly met with about 100 homes opting out and another 40 being placed on a waiting list. During public comments, residents were frequently asked who did or didn't receive notification of the changes with the vast majority each time saying they had not. "We've gotten no information from the trash hauler," said resident Sarah Steiner. "The information we got came in the form of a couple garbage containers. All I could think of first was having to move them to get out of my own driveway. Second of all, where on my property, which is an open farm kind of place, am I going to keep these?" "The fact that there's a ceiling on the number of people who can opt out is nonsense," she added. "This is why I'm forwarding all of these questions to my attorney. I just can't imagine this being legal." Attendees also cited the inability for some residents to move the new carts due to age and disability. Rumpke has agreed to pick up bins placed up to 150 feet away from the curb if that resident provides medical documentation to the township of why they are unable to do so. One resident said the task is impossible for her with a driveway that measures about 2,000 feet. While some at the meeting acknowledged that changing to Rumpke will save money for people who were already using trash pickup services, others pointed out that being forced to use the service amounts to a new expense for those who never used it in the past. Trustees said another motivation for the changes was to cut down on the number of garbage trucks in the township and ensuing damage to roads. Resident Bob Jozwiak suggested attempting to amend the contract with Rumpke to raise the opt-out limit, which trustees seemed open to. "I have no problem whatsoever with calling our legal counsel and asking them to draft up an addition and seeing if Rumpke would listen," said Zieja. "That's an awesome suggestion." In October, township trustees and Rumpke, based in Colerain Township just outside of Cincinnati, finalized a five-year deal that handed the company all trash pickup responsibilities in the township. Rumpke's services already had been used by some York residents along with other providers including Dover-based Kimble Companies, Medina-based C Martin Trucking and Arizona-based Republic Services. Rumpke's bid to take over all pickup service was approved by trustees on Sept. 26. A cease-and-desist notification was later sent to other companies that have been providing trash pickup in York instructing them to end any billing cycles on or before Sunday. Rumpke will begin trash pickup in York on Monday. Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330) 721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.