CHESAPEAKE – A recent village council decision in Chesapeake will give residents a chance to pick their own garbage disposal service.

Wednesday, December 27, 2000

CHESAPEAKE – A recent village council decision in Chesapeake will give residents a chance to pick their own garbage disposal service.

And, the action should put money back in users’ pockets, village officials said.

In recent weeks, council members discussed an ordinance that requires them to bid the village’s trash pickup services for the 2001 year.

Council members were unable to reach an agreement on the lowest bidder that would best suit the needs of the village, so they decided to allow residents a chance to pick their own vendor, councilman Paul Hart said.

"After more than an hour of debate, council was unable to reach an agreement," Hart said. "We opened the bids Dec. 4 and decided to rebid the service after we were unable to reach a reasonable agreement."

When the rebidding ended Dec. 11, council members were still unable to reach a decision on who a contract should be awarded to, he said.

"We had three vendors place a bid for the project," he said. "In the past, residents have paid $10 a month for the services and an additional fee for a plastic container provided by the vendor."

Negotiations with Collection Services, BFI Inc. and Rumpke – the three lowest bidders – prompted council members to set a new service fee of $8.70 and allow businesses and residents a chance to pick their service provider, he added.

"We decided to allow businesses and residents pick the vendor of their choice," he said. "We also decided that residents can put out as many bags as they need to within reason. And now they can negotiate their own contract. This is going to save them some money."

Users are not limited to the three lowest bidders, but service providers are unable to charge more than the $8.70 rate without council approval, he said.

"That’s not to say that if an individual elects to use a vendor’s container, they won’t be charged more," Hart said. "What we are allowing is residents to choose whoever they want to pick up their trash, but no vendor is allowed to go above our set fee without first coming to council and it getting approved."

Only vendors who use qualified disposal equipment and dump at an Environmental Protection Agency certified dump site are permitted to provide services to Chesapeake users, he added.

"We’re going to try this for one year," he said. "Hopefully it’ll work and if it doesn’t, we’ll make the necessary changes next year."