Solid Waste Study Session Slated For Mid July

Oskaloosa City Hall

Oskaloosa City Hall

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The discussion in Oskaloosa sparked by social media is the future of solid waste, trash, followed by who hauls the trash.

According to Oskaloosa City Manager Michael Schrock, the Oskaloosa City Council will be hosting a study session in mid-July on the subject.

At this point, Schrock says there has been no decision or discussion “whatsoever” and says the council hasn’t had a conversation. “What we’ve been talking about, and I say talking, during the last budget session, so in January of 2018, the city council has often asked what are your priorities for the year because we’re setting the budget.”

“We’re also trying to figure out our calendar for the year as far as planning discussions and potential items for debate, so that we as staff know what our work plan might be,” said Schrock. “One of those items was the issue of sanitation, provision of sanitation, sanitation hauling and the code itself for our community.”

Schrock said the sanitation discussion was then scheduled out for the summer. “Give me some time so we can get through rental inspection and then we would take up the topic of garbage hauling, which could include single hauler. That’s a solution potentially. There’s a lot of stuff that leads up to that discussion. We haven’t had any discussion since then [January].”

The last time the discussion of sanitation, trash collection and who hauls the garbage last made it to council discussion was approximately six years ago when council reviewed a study that had been completed. Nothing was done by council at the time. “It was ultimately decided that let’s let the market take its course and that should address the concerns that were being raised, which were we had seven haulers on the road.”

Retirements and acquisitions of haulers happened since that time, and now there are three licensed haulers and one unlicensed hauler remaining.

There are now new faces on the council who haven’t been a part of the discussion of sanitation in the city of Oskaloosa. Schrock said that some council members would really like to have the conversation on the subject.

Potential sanitation code changes discussed previously also included potential garbage pick up dates, and to clarify if a trash can is or isn’t required for pickup of trash, and to decide if recycling has to be provided by a hauler, and what it takes to get a license to haul solid waste in Oskaloosa. “We should be getting ourselves aligned with industry standards on those things. Those are the types of things that the report suggested,” said Schrock.

Schrock said he’s looking for direction on policy from the city council.”What types of services do you as a council expect our community to have. How we get there is going to be council’s call. It’s either going to be code changes, or it could be a mixture of code changes or we just leave it be.”

Discussions are ongoing at the Mahaska County Solid Waste Commission in regards to countywide recycling.

“It’s up to them [council], I’ll do what they want me to do,” said Schrock.

That first discussion is scheduled for July 16, 2018, as a work session. Work sessions typically start at 5 pm, but the meeting hasn’t been officially published yet.

You can also reach out to discuss your concerns with your city council members by visiting http://www.oskaloosaiowa.org/index.aspx?nid=172

Posted by on Jun 29 2018. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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