Lincoln City Council
Trash billing change
Area Disposal renewed

 

[February 04, 2021] 

At the Monday night meeting of the Lincoln City Council aldermen discussed and approved changes to the city’s policy on trash fees. The action item was the result of discussions started two weeks ago at the city meeting by Kevin Bateman.

Bateman reviewed at that time, that there were issues with landlord/tenant accounts because the tenants were not paying the trash bills, or were moving and leaving trash outside the rental property with no one to be responsible for paying for pick-up.

Bateman said then that the obvious and best answer was to have all trash service put into the name of the property owner. The property owner could in turn adjust the monthly rental fee to reflect the payment of the trash collection.

This past Monday night, the motion to approve was on the agenda, with Bateman saying that in the two week time since he had suggested this change he had received no “push back” from local landlords. Jeff Hoinacki on the other hand said that he had heard from constituents who did not want this change. He said he supported those constituents and would be voting against putting the accounts into the property owner's name.

Bateman said that he felt like it was the best solution to an ongoing problem. He said that in reality he didn’t see that it should be a problem for anyone. He said that for the landlord it would be a “wash” because the amount of the monthly trash service could be added to the monthly rent.

Bateman said he knew that it would take some time to make the transition, so he would suggest and amend the motion to state that the new policy would take effect July 1st, 2021.

Bateman said for the city, this would make working with Area Disposal on the collection of debt or issues with the trash easier because with tenants who have moved, the city “doesn’t know who to call.” Working with the landlords instead of tenants will be more effective.

When called to a vote, seven aldermen – Bateman, Sam Downs, Ron Fleshman, Kathy Horn, Ron Keller, Steve Parrott and Tracy Welch voted “yes.” Hoinacki voted no.

Area Disposal contract renewal

The city also voted to renew the trash collection franchise with Area Disposal for one year. After the motion had been made Steve Parrott brought up that the public is somewhat confused about what is permitted in the recycling bins and wondered if Area Disposal could do something to help inform customers.

Matt Coulter with Area Disposal was on the phone and said that yes Area Disposal can do more. He mentioned that the Lincoln community seemed to be very active on social media, so information could be posted there. Parrott said he for one was not on social media, so that would not be a good solution for him and probably others like him. Coulter said that the items that are permitted are listed on the lids of the recycling contains, but that Area can also utilize local media to inform the public.

Ron Keller said that he had received a few complaints including the inability to reach customer service in Lincoln. He said there was an office in Lincoln, but callers had a very difficult time reaching staff there.

Tracy Welch said that had been discussed at the last meeting with Area and steps are being taken to correct the situation.

Calls made specifically to 217-735-5881 will be handled locally from now on. He said that if a caller gets a voice mailbox they should leave their call back information and that Area will get back with them within 24 hours.

Another issue Welch shared was that with the delivery of new totes. He said that there had been instances when totes had needed to be replaced due to damage and customers felt it had taken too long to get the new totes. Welch said that from now on totes will be delivered within 24 hours.

Keller said that another issue was the idea that customers are to put the filled totes on their curbs and not on the street. However, when the trash collection takes place, Area workers are leaving the totes in the street.

Coulter said that workers do the best they can to put the totes back on the curb and he wondered how many are actually being left on the street.

Keller also said he would have preferred to go out for bid for the contract rather than just renewing with Area without doing due diligence. Bateman agreed that going out for bid was the best practice, but in this case he had thought it would be wise for the city to work through the billing issues and make sure the new plan is effective before it starts looking at new providers.

Hoinacki said that in addition, there had been some time constraints on this renewal, and insufficient time to go out for bid. Welch confirmed this and said that next year the city would start the process much earlier to allow time for the bidding process.

When the question came to vote, the council approved the renewal of the Area Disposal contract for one year by unanimous vote.

[Nila Smith]

Lincoln City Council
Aldermen expected to renew Area Disposal contract 12 months