Residents living in the Village of Lake Orion will soon see Waste Away trucks replaced with those from Richfield Equities, the village’s new waste removal service.
The Lake Orion Village Council voted on Jan. 23 to contract with Richfield, which currently supplies services to a number of Genesee County municipalities, including Davison Township, Genesee Township, Grand Blanc Township, Mt. Morris City, Mt. Morris Township, Mundy Township and Richfield Township.
The company also owns two of their own landfills, and offers freon removal service for appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners, free of charge.
Village manager JoAnn Van Tassel’s recommendation to the council was to contract with Richfield, to begin on July 1, 2006; dependent upon service provided in the initial period of March 1-June 30.
The village currently contracts with Waste Away. However, the company was unable to meet specifications for insurance coverage in the original request from the village for proposals.
Because of this, Waste Away was given a 60-day termination notice from the village.
A new request for proposals was sent out to nine companies, and bids were received from four, including Waste Away, who now can provide the required insurance coverage.
The council noted that in the bids, there was only a $25-35 per week difference in Waste Away and Richfield’s bids.
Dan Garman, of government affairs for Richfield, said the company would prefer to do a Tuesday pick-up for the Village of Lake Orion, since they already had Monday pick-ups in many of their other communities.
‘We do 11,000 stops in Genesee County on Monday,? Garman said.
Garman said Richfield’s philosophy was to be off the streets very quickly, but by doing a Monday pick-up, they might be working in the village until 6 p.m.
Garman said they could be off the streets by 2 p.m. on a Tuesday.
The village currently has Monday pick-up for residential customers through Waste Away.
‘I think Monday pick-up is real important,? said council member Ken Van Portfliet.
Council member Doug Dendell added that a lot of people who live on the lake entertain on the weekend, so they have a lot of garbage on Monday morning.
Garman said the earliest Richfield could start working in the village is Feb. 7.
He said Richfield could start doing Monday pick-up on March 1, and do Tuesday pick-up temporarily until then.
‘I’m concerned about the impact and the confusion to the residents,? said Van Tassel, regarding the village having Tuesday pick-up for a couple of weeks, then going back to Monday.
Garman said Richfield will be sending out flyers to village residents letting them know they are taking over waste disposal.