Curmudgeon's Corner

Village Buzz - September 24th

Posted by Al Campbell on Sept. 24, 2010

Germantown, Political, Quality of Life, Village Board, Village Buzz

96 Gal. Recycling Container Blog Follow-Up

My Blog about this subject from Wednesday prompted a meeting this morning with Trustee Art Zabel who was anxious to provide me with a better understanding of this issue.  He showed me the original e-mail that he received where both the 64 Gal. and the 96 Gal. containers were planned to be distributed.  (That e-mail is the genesis of the list that I received after an anonymous female telephone caller alerted me to its existence this past Monday.)  Zabel mentioned the smaller size to several constituents and decided he wanted one as well.  This list was maintained by the Engineering staff person in village hall.  That practice was discontinued when it was made to seem that Waste Management had changed its mind on two sizes, although now that decision seems to have been made by people on the village staff rather than by Waste Management as was originally thought.

I presume that the telephone call which I received probably originated with a person inside village hall since, to my knowledge, no one outside village hall would’ve been aware of the existence of the list or that it contained Art Zabel’s name, as I was tipped by the caller.  I saw the original list today. That had the name of Larry Heft on it; the list I received had that name removed for whatever reason.

I learned today, after seeing the e-mail mentioned above, that Waste Management had always been willing to distribute either size since its costs were less for the smaller container and since both were capable of being handled by their equipment.  The change to the single larger size container was not made at the direction of the village board, so I have to believe that it was made by a staff level decision.  I don’t know why that decision was made.  It seems that having a choice would’ve made a lot of sense.  I know I would’ve enjoyed having the smaller unit from day #1.

Now, the village has apparently backtracked with the news release that it put out yesterday where it stated that after sixty days, Waste Management will be willing to pick up the 96 Gal. units and replace them with 64 Gal. units.  There will be an extra charge involved and I am uncertain as to that amount, but am told it was originally to be $25, but may now be either $50 or as much as $75.  Had the decision not been made to drop the delivery of either size in favor of the larger size, of course, this would not be necessary.

At the risk of burying this person in phone messages, I believe that the person to call about the change after the first sixty days of use (December 1^st) will be Janice in the village engineering department at 262-250-4720.

As a note for those who may be elderly and/or incapacitated, I was advised that Waste Management is willing, upon receipt of a doctor’s written note to that effect, to have its employees enter the residents’ garage area to retrieve, empty and return these containers.