Yard Waste Collection Still Costly, But Few Complaints

The city of Springfield doubled the length of its fall yard waste collection this year and hoped the cost would be about the same — if not cheaper — than in previous years.

The tactic: Officials divided the city into quadrants and went through a competitive request-for-proposal process to find the lowest bidders willing to pick up leaves.

Three area haulers — Lake Area Disposal, Waste Management and Allied — were each assigned an area of town to collect yard waste. City Department of Public Works employees were assigned the southwest section.

In recent years, each of the city’s four waste haulers was assigned to a collection area. The size of the area was based on the percentage of customers a hauler has in Springfield.

What did it cost?

Final tallies from the city’s public works department show that the fall yard waste collection lasted about 5 1/2 weeks -- about 4 1 /2 weeks of regular collection and a week of “silent collection,” when leaf bags still were collected, but it wasn’t advertised.

Total cost: $196,384.

That’s the most spent in about a decade, according to city figures.

The second-highest cost, $191,889, was the fall pickup in 2009, when the collection period was first cut in half from four weeks to two weeks. In fall 2010, the cost dropped to $132,462.

What’s next?

In an email to aldermen, public works director Mark Mahoney said a large volume of leaves were collected due to the extended period and the weather conditions. The spring collection is expected to be smaller and cheaper, he wrote.

Mahoney said his department is evaluating ways to bring the cost down.

“We had hoped to have a little more savings, but when you look at what we did, the amount of leaves that were collected and what we accomplished, I think we were still a lot better off,” Mahoney said.

Fewer complaints

At a recent city council meeting, Mayor Mike Houston noted the best part of this year’s collection: He heard only one complaint.

“It really went very, very well,” Houston said.

Joe Davis, the city council coordinator, seconded Houston’s comments.

He said this was the first year his office received no complaint calls about leaf pickup.

Related searches :
stephen king, stores open on christmas day 2011, new york knicks, christmas games, elf toss

Source : http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x550229381/Follow-File-Yard-waste-collection-still-costly-but-few-complaints