My impression was that they really did not want to discuss the trash business further.
The only real problem is the issue of it being a manditory service for everyone in Huber Heights.
Right now I can fire my trash service at any time for any reason. If it is mandatory we do not have that option. This gives the trash service too much independence. People cannot fire the company doing the service.
Not every one has the same needs.
They did say that people on extended vacations could cancel the service while they are gone. Example: Snowbirds. People that go to Florida in the Winter would have that option. I have not seen anything in writing that would confirm what the business manager stated on that ability to cancel.
There are people that are very close to bankruptcy in Huber Heights and every penny counts towards making it. This "service" being mandatory would put these people in trouble even at extremely cheap rates.
How do you collect from such people? You cannot get blood from a stone. You cannot collect from people that have no money. Will the city have to cover the expense of attempting to collect from people?
If the firm we have the contract with goes bankrupt, then there is a problem getting a company to collect trash while the process goes forward.

At the meeting today, the City spelled out the trash situation. The State dictates that they do not have to vote on it as a tax. They may mandate ordinances that cost tax payers money without resorting to a vote!
The good points are that a single trash service can be cheaper than anyone currently has.
We will have better regulation of who is pushing heavy trucks over our side streets, thus making the roads last a little longer.
A single trash hauler means that we will only see a garbage truck on our streets once a week.
The service includes recyling.
Probably will start around June or July.
The bad is not everyone fits into the same shoe. Seniors do go on extended vacations and that is allowed to cancel service while they are gone. Florida Snow Birds pay attention.
People with little garbage and seniors will be charged the same as everyone else.
No allowance is made for people on the margin that are barely getting by and have to cut every corner they can in order to stay in our community. I sensed no concern about people that are living close to a very strict budget. I suggest that it may be impossible for those people to comply with such an ordinance without stretching what little money they have.
People recently unemployed comes to mind and people layed off from civil service at least one day a week.
They cannot conceive of people in a depression that have to do what they have to do to just survive.
I am not one of those people right now. But I have been where they are in my past. I think the city needs to concern itself as a lot of these people may be in a different position somewhere down the road. They do vote!
Right now they are talking of it being a minor zoning violation to not pay for your trash.
Probably on the same lines as not mowing your lawn on time.
Lawn is something that gets out of hand in a hurry when you are working and it rains every other day. But that is another story.
The other thing is the cost of handling garbage is going up thanks to our Montgomery County Commissions wanting to close the north plant.
The fuel necessary to go to the South Plant is double what it is to go to the North Plant. So when they close the plant, prices to do the service go up.
Only one trash hauler attempted to address this issue with a fuel surcharge. The rest did not. That means they could be attempting to haul our trash for free as their costs rise above their profits.
No one seemed too concerned that we might have a bankrupt trash hauler half way into the contract. Yet we could be in the position of dealing with someone else at a much higher rate if that happens.
The key word here is MANDATORY Trash Collection. Once you have one Trash Hauler you have no control over service quality. In the end we will get what we pay for.

See the HH Courier Write-up