MASON CITY – The following options are being considered for rates and service for the Sanitation Pick Up in the City of Mason City. There are four options that are being considered. Each option will be described in narrative form and a table has also been prepared to show all options together. Sanitation is currently charged at a rate of $10.05 per month and the garbage is generally picked up by 1 pm each day. Yard waste pick up will cause some pick up days to be longer based on the volume required and is the highest in the fall. The City currently has 5 garbage packer trucks and three recycling trucks in our fleet. The fleet is aging and vehicle repair costs are rising. There is an identified need to replace as many vehicles as economically feasible over the next five years. The decision to purchase a truck is reviewed each year during budget time. In a two truck system used in the winter, each truck is making 1,375 daily stops and typically completes the route in 6 hours or less averaging 229 stops per hour. In the non-winter months three trucks are used and yard waste is picked up for 917 stops for each truck for garbage plus a re-run of the route to pick up yard waste. Completion time varies depending on volume of yard waste. The loss of one truck during non-winter routes will require the two remaining trucks to make an additional 458 stops per day above the 917 stops per day under the current system. The use of only two trucks in the non-winter period will add approximately 200,000 pounds of garbage/yard waste per month to each truck above the between 310,000 to 640,000 pounds of garbage/yard waste they currently pick up each month. The information on each option is provided in table format with a narrative description provided on the second page.
The Mayor and City Council would like your input on which option is more desirable for you considering rates and service. Please click on the listed email address and provide your input. When you hit send using the address provided below, your email will be sent to the Mayor, all Council Members and the City Administrator. mayorcouncil@masoncity.net
| Proposed Rate Increases | Sanitation Employees Impact | Service Level | |
| Option 1 | $0.95/month$11.40/year | 2 retained | No change |
| Option 2 | $0.10/month$1.20/year | 2 eliminated | Extends collection time to late afternoon |
| Option 3 | $0.15/month$1.80/year
Plus $0.40 per yard waste bag disposed |
2 retained | No change |
| Option 4 | $0.10/month$1.20/year | 2 eliminated with 2 swing worker positions are created | Extends collection time to late afternoon but slightly reduced in high volume times when swing workers are utilized primarily during high yard waste days |
Option 1
Sanitation service will see a rate increase of $0.95 per month in FY 2016 and a rate increase of $0.45 per month in FY 2017. Two sanitation employees are retained and the service stays at the current level and method of pick up. The new revenue will allow the division to replace a truck each of the next five years.
Option 2
Sanitation service will see a rate increase of $0.10 per month in FY 2016 and a rate increase of $0.10 per month in FY 2017. Two sanitation positions are eliminated, reducing the number of trucks used in the non-winter months from three to two. With the reduction of one truck, the garbage routes will take longer to complete with the route being completed in the late afternoon. The savings from the reduction in employees will allow the division to replace a truck each of the next five years.
Option 3
Sanitation service will see a rate increase of $0.15 per month in FY 2016 and a rate increase of $0.15 per month in FY 2017. In addition to the general rate increase, the City will implement a charge of $0.40 per yard waste bag for this pick up. Stickers would be sold to adhere to each bag. Two sanitation employees are retained and the service stays at the current level and method of pick up. The new revenue will allow the division to replace three trucks over the next five years.
Option 4
Sanitation service will see a rate increase of $0.10 per month in FY 2016 and a rate increase of $0.10 per month in FY 2017. Two sanitation positions are eliminated reducing the number of trucks used in the non-winter months from three to two. The City will create two new swing worker positions that will split their time between Sanitation and another department. One swing worker will focus on Arborist work in dealing with trees that may be affected by the Emerald Ash Borer and the other swing worker will focus on work in the Water Department. With the reduction of one truck, the garbage routes will take longer to complete with the route being completed in the late afternoon. The addition of the swing workers however will allow additional staff to assist during high volume times such as fall yard waste needs. The department director would have the ability to shift the swing workers as needed to accomplish tasks. The savings from the reduction in sanitation employees and creation of swing worker positions will allow the division to replace a truck in four of the next five years.
option # 1 for me. also what time is the meeting and should we bring a bag of garbage tonight just to prove our point to the major, hickey, and janet slowberg??? Everyone needs to attend and bring at least 1 bag of garbage period!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In all honesty, I don’t think Trout is a bad guy. He’s stuck. He could be a very good administrator if it wasn’t for Bookmeyer breathing down his back constantly. It’s too bad that our mayor won’t just let him do the job he was hired to do. It’s too bad that Trout doesn’t have the authority to fire Bookmeyer! And if they fire any sanitation workers, we need to show our support by dropping off our garbage to Hickeys , Solbergs, and Bookmeyers houses.
Lets see tomorrow night at the council meeting if these council members are true to their word and they will vote for what the people want. By the way it looks over 70% are in favor of option #1
Trout is going to recommend #4. Lets see if the council does what the majority of the people want or what the mayor wants.
my vote is option #1
I am wanting to vote for Option #1
There is no reason to fire anyone
So keep these people employed
This morning it was cold out and lots of snow. My garbage was picked up on time as usual and my cans and recycle bin back in my driveway. No one should lose their job for doing it well.
Option #1. No one should be fired because the city did not budget for this earlier.
@Anonymous-Agreed, but I don’t think it will work that way. They are obviously out to get the sanitation departments and have found a way to do it. Blame the voters. They let these people back into office knowing full well what they are.
For some reason some of the city council members have it in for the garbage workers. It wasn’t long ago they wanted to hire an outside vendor to pick up trash. Why can’t they leave well enough alone. No problem raising other rates, but for a dollar a month for garbage they get all up tight and want to lay off workers. I think they are jealous that the garbage guys don’t always work 8 hours a day, as they work their butts off to get done early. That saves us all money in the long run.
Hickey and Solberg for sure.
@WD-Yep, Hickey and Solberg.
I don’t have a union job, and after I dropped out of school I never tried to get one. So basically all I do is sit home and wait for the mail, and criticize people who have good paying jobs.
These “union workers” make $45,000 yr. to be a high school drop out with no skills required other than being able to withstand the smell and weather. Do we want to pay more so they can keep their unskilled union job?
they are not telling the whole story either. If you eliminated these 2 jobs- you would be paying unemployment, lots of overtime and and more injuries (workmen’s comp.) These guys work in all conditions. My garbage is picked up by 7 thirty and on a day like this (gusts up to 50mph) it’s nice to get these cans off the street before they blow away. What are you really gaining by eliminating 2 good jobs?
I am for option number 1 for 12 dollars more a year. I like that my garbage is picked up as soon as possible, less chance for birds, raccoons, dogs, cats and other rodents to get into it.
How much are trucks ?
@Bugs-I think the number is over $100,000.
I am for any option thay retains employees. And does NOT eliminate any positions. Also..recycling should be required. If residents do not take advantage of recycling services, they should pay more. Some people are just lazy and don’t recycle because it’s too much work to put recyclables in the bins that the city provides. With recycling, there is less garbage to pick up and it is better for the environment.
FORCED to recycle? No one should be FORCED to recycle. Some take stuff to the recycling place so they don’t use the blue bins.
After receiving some more information, Option #4 would probably work for the city and the taxpayers. I still like Option #1 the best but could live with Option #4.
The professional who just completed the tree inventory and presented it to the Council at the last meeting said that it would cost the city about $1 million to hire someone to deal with all of the tree issues the city will face due to emeral ash borer, or a crew of 4-5 people working full time maintaining city trees-#4 is just a show. A part time swing position will never be able to tackle what we are facing. I Just because you own a saw, doesn’t mean you are an arborist.
@anonymous-I am willing to bet they would be doing things like picking up and grinding branches. They have trained personnel that do the tree cutting.
Why wasn’t there any option #5? That would have been…leave well enough alone if its already working. Quit micro-managing. And last….encourage the mayor and council members to ride along with the sanitation department for a month while they preform their duties.
After a month, then tell the everyone if you think this department is needed or not.
Buzz,
That’s what option #1 is. Service stays the same and they replace the truck like they always do. That’s the one that I support.
If my memory serves me, which it doesn’t sometimes, the only mayor to ever climb aboard a garbage truck was Stan Romans. He didn’t just ride along, he climbed on the back and picked up garbage with the crew. I doubt that the mayor or any council member has the ability to do that job for an extended period of time. If any of them would like to try, then the crew should pick the day. Picking up that amount of garbage a day, is no easy task.
I think the mayor now has that kind of time…
FYI: Romans was a joke too. He only rode the garbage truck for publicity.
Sorry
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I really don’t think it’s about being able to afford a new truck as much as it is about eliminating two jobs. Don’t forget our mayor is among other things, a (Go Lean) guy, no pun intended. I also don’t think that the city is putting out all the information about the sanitation vehicles. The lifespan of a garbage truck was figured at 5 years. All trucks were rotated out on that basis. So every year, the oldest truck, (5 years old) was replaced. It has been that way for a very long time…
So replacing a truck is really nothing new or cost prohibitive. It’s just a way for our city leaders to cut jobs and to use that money on pet projects that the citizens don’t need or want. On the option choices, I kicked around 1 and 3. I’m going to go with 3. Because for what, 20 years, the city has basically been picking up yard waste for free. I feel that if you want to use the extra service, you should help fund it. I don’t want to see two guys loose their jobs for misappropriation of…
@Allen-If you go for option #3 you put all of the cost on the FEW people who clean their yards. Almost all of the renters never clean their yards so they won’t have to pay for the truck even though they are using the service. That is not fair to the people who do try to keep their yards up. I have put out 25 bags a week every week for three weeks. That is $30.00. Most of those bags of leaves come from the rent houses that never get cleaned up and blow into my yard.
You do have a point…
I will go for option #1. Option #3 puts the whole load on the home owners and people who keep their yards cleaned up. The renters who never clean the yards of the homes they live in would get a free ride. It is just not right to charge a few home owners for something everyone benefits from. I can see real problems with option #4. They would just keep bleeding off the workers from sanitation and the quality of service would deteriorate.
If you rent a house the renter pays for trash pickup. If you rent an apt. it’s built into the rent. If trash pick up rates go up then rent will up. I don’t know any landlord who wouldn’t pass the cost on to the tenant. So rates effect everyone owning or renting.
The City doesn’t pick up garbage at apartments. The landlords or tenants have to hire a private hauler.