Council likely to discuss alternative options at later date

By Megan Kelley
Editor
mkelley@mihomepaper.com
CLARKSTON— During its meeting on July 22, the Clarkston City Council voted no to putting a referendum on the Nov. 5 election ballot asking residents if they would be in favor of a single waste hauler or a single day hauler in the city. President Pro Tem Laura Rodgers and Trustee Amanda Forte cast the two yes votes.
At its last meeting on July 8, the council discussed potentially placing the issue of a single waste hauler for the city on the November election ballot. The idea behind placing the issue on the ballot was to gauge resident input on if they would be interested in a single waste hauler. The ballot initiative would prompt the city manager Jonathan Smith to look into the issue and bring his findings back to the board.
At that meeting, the board voted to table the discussion until all board members could be present.
At the July 22 meeting, while the council was in favor of finding an option that would result in less garbage trucks on the road, there was back and forth discussion on how to achieve that.
Trustee Peg Roth, who was not in favor of a single waste hauler at the previous meeting, said that she had spoken with Greg Wall, Supervisor of Waterford Township who informed her that Waterford residents were happy since the switch to a single waste hauler.
“He thinks that the way to go is with a single hauler. Gary Wall said this is the best thing that they had done for Waterford Township. They had a lot of complaining before, but he’s said since it’s been implemented, people are now calling back and saying it is a wonderful idea,” Roth said.
When asked about what the potential cost would be to residents, Smith gave examples from Rochester Hills where residents pay $50.10 a quarter and with added recycling pay $57.90 a quarter.
Trustee Ted Quisenberry, who spoke up against the single waste hauler at the July 8 meeting, raised concerns with the price especially with snowbirds who would be forced to buy into the system despite not being in town for however many months of the year.
Quisenberry suggested potentially having a model similar to that of Ortonville who does not have a single hauler system but only allows trash pick up on Monday.
This idea was one that was very popular with Mayor Sue Wylie who had voiced her support for a single hauler system at the July 8 meeting.
“My big issue is all the trucks, all the traffic, all the weight that trucks are putting on the city streets. That one day collection, that’s a pretty nice way of doing things. And we’ve done things like that before. We said people who are sealing their driveway, you have to use certain kinds of products.” Wylie said.
Tony Detkowski owner of TNR Lawn Service & Dumpster, LLC spoke at the meeting saying that while he could bid on the city he would be in favor of the city doing a single day trash pick up.
“Doing one day, that’s a good idea, if you just went one day and people got to choose who they want. There are basically two companies, us and community (disposal), waste management is here also. But, I know in Ortonville, when they went to one day, Waste Management pulled out. I understand, people don’t like trucks on the road but garbage is garbage, it’s got to be picked up,” Detkowski said.
The motion, made by Forte and seconded by Roth was to include a referendum on Nov. 5 2024 election ballot to ask residents if they are or are not in favor of an investigation into single trash hauler or single day hauler trash in the city.
While the motion did include the single day hauler option, the council was more interested in a single day hauler, said Wylie.
Wylie added that though the motion was defeated, they would likely discuss the topic again at a later date.
“We can still talk about this in the future. We can do something else: we can drop it off, we can do something Ted (Quisenberry) considered, we can talk about single day trash collection, anything we want. I don’t think it’s going to go away, I’m still in favor of keeping trash haulers on the city streets just one day a week,” Wylie said.