GREENE: White Hall renews contract for trash pickup
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By Carmen Ensinger
Either White Hall residents didn’t realize the White Hall City Council had an item on the agenda to renew the contract for trash pickup on the agenda at the April 12 city council meeting, or they just didn’t care. Either way, not one person showed up in protest – a stark contrast to four years ago when the idea of city-wide trash pickup was first proposed.
Four years ago when the idea was first proposed, for around six months, the city council room was packed every single month with residents for and against the mandatory trash pickup. Some didn’t want to be forced into paying for a trash service they either didn’t want or didn’t need. Others didn’t like the fact of being forced to use a specific service – they wanted the option to choose their own service.
Eric Shangraw, a representative of Area Waste Disposal, which is now GFL Environmental, Inc., was present at the meeting. The first thing he did was explain about the name change.
“On Oct. 1, 2021, GFL bought our company out,” he said. “The Coulter family had owned Area for 92 years and decided it was just getting to big for them to manage so they sold it to GFL. GFL is a Canadian based company, but they are going to keep all of the drivers on the trucks, all of the contracts, landfills, everything is going to be the same, but we will be operating under the GFL name and eventually the trucks will be a bright green.”
He also said that GFL is now the third largest waste hauling company in North America, behind Waste Management, who is number one. Area Disposal was rated at No. 38.
“We are under a four-year agreement with the city which expires on July 30 and we can simply end the program there, but there is also language in the contract that allows for three more years,” Shangraw said. “You are currently paying $17.82 a month. Under the language in the contract that would increase a little less than 2.5 percent each year to $18.23 then to $18.65 and then $19.08 so customers would still be well under $20 per house through July of 2025 under this program.”
Shangraw said under the contract they would continue to provide free service to all of the city buildings as well as providing free city wide cleanup each year with 400 cubic yards of dumpsters which is the equivalent of 10 40-foot-dumpsters. In addition, they would also provide a free tire disposal service and electronic disposal service.
“I think this is a good deal for all of the people in town and I think it is a good deal for the city in that we will save money for all the options we have,” Alderman Norman Coad said. “One of them is the free tire pickup for our residents and also the free electronic pickup, plus the free dumpsters during city wide clean-up saves us a lot.”
Alderman David Meldrum, who was not on the council when the original contract was signed four years ago, did ask a question.
“So the original contract said the whole city had to be under it and I know it come up in the past that certain businesses already had contract with other companies,” he said.
City Attorney Bill Strang answered Meldrum’s query.
“The contract was only for residential customers,” Strang said. “Businesses could keep any trash service they wanted. We had about 8 to 10 customers here in town who insisted on using Sanders but we notified Sanders and he withdrew and they went to Area so everything is taken care of.”
Coad made the motion to continue to contract and Alderwoman Sue Vinyard seconded. Aldermen Rick Cox and Meldrum voted yes with Aldermen Brandon Roberts and Derrick Gilmore absent.
