Waynesburg, Franklin Township OK five-year waste collection contract
Waynesburg and Franklin Township approved a joint waste collection contract at their meetings Monday.
The five-year agreement with Belle Vernon-based County Hauling, a subsidiary of Noble Environmental, covers municipal waste collection, transportation and disposal services. County Hauling submitted the lowest of three bids, Waynesburg Borough Manager Athena Bowman said at Monday’s council meeting.
In the first year of the agreement, fees will be $16 a month per unit for weekly curbside pickup, $26 for walk-up and $14.40 for senior curbside. By the end of the agreement, those numbers will rise to $18.17, $28.17 and $16.35 respectively.
While walk-up prices increased slightly, both curbside fees saw declines, Bowman said.
Borough Assistant Manager Bryan Cumberledge called the agreement “a really good deal,” comparing it to an entity in Washington County using the same company whose rates went up around 35%.
Part of what enabled the rates to come down was more stringent penalties for delinquent customers, Cumberledge said. Where the company had previously been required to pick up garbage regardless of unpaid bills, the new agreement stipulates that County Hauling can post a notice to a customer who hasn’t paid for 90 days that it can refuse to pick up the customer’s trash if they don’t pay within two weeks.
County Hauling will also notify the borough of customers whose service has been cut off, creating the potential for them to be cited by borough code enforcement officers.
“It was a little more work on our end, but it saved a lot of money for the taxpayer,” Cumberledge said.
In the case of rentals, additional language was added to ensure the owner receives written notice when a tenant is past due, and that the owner becomes responsible for paying the balances under some conditions.
The agreement also outlined several streets in Waynesburg and Franklin Township where County Hauling cannot use large garbage trucks due to road conditions.