Supervisors urge county staff to improve trash service
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| A common sight in Annandale. |
Poor service
For the past few months, however, the quality of solid waste collections has declined significantly, due mostly to a labor shortage, for both county and private trash haulers.
Several supervisors said they are getting many angry calls and emails about missed pickups and bags of yard waste piling up on streets for as long as four weeks.
Mason Supervisor Penny Gross said it makes no sense to add new households until the board has confidence that DPWES has a good plan for restoring full service for existing customers. “The service is in a hole and it needs to
stop digging,” she said.
Related story: Staffing shortages blamed for yard waste pickup delays
John Kellas, director of solid waste and recycling, said, “We’re doing everything we can to get the trash off the ground.” That includes emergency contractors from out of state and hiring more people. But he doesn’t think the problems will be resolved in three months. County trash service can only start twice a year, on Jan. 1 and July 1.
According to DPWES Director Christopher Herrington, the vacancy rate is 26 percent. Trash collection is the top priority, followed by recycling, then yard waste.
Braddock Supervisor James Walkinshaw agreed with the delay, although he expressed concern with the “mixed messages constituents are receiving.”
He told the Canterbury Woods community earlier that he would support their request to join the county system but only if the county can provide high-quality service. In August, DPWES expressed confidence that they could. “Now you’re saying you can’t,” he told county staff at the hearing.
Residents split on petitions
People who spoke at the board hearing had mixed feelings about the issue.
The Canterbury Woods petition, submitted in January 2020, was signed by 68 percent of the 517 households in the community, exceeding the 55 percent threshold, said Dale Johnson, president of the Canterbury Woods Civic Association.
Those customers were unhappy about missed pickups, the fact that the two private companies that serve the community no longer negotiate, and that the costs keep rising, Johnson told the board. Monthly charges range from $18 to $55, with higher rates for new residents.
“We no longer have any power to negotiate better service,” he said. “Our community wants this.”
Another Canterbury Woods resident said she opposes the creation of the sanitary district because, if she is unhappy with the service she can cancel it, find another hauler, to take her trash to the I-66 transfer station herself. County customers pay through taxes so “we lose that choice.”
The Pleasant Ridge community submitted a petition in July 2019 to add 109 properties to an existing sanitary district.
A Pleasant Ridge homeowner said several people who signed the petition changed their minds or moved away. She opposes the sanitary district because she doesn’t want to see piles of yard waste in the streets. It’s an eyesore and brings down property values, she said.
The private companies provide even worse service and they mix yard waste with regular trash, noted a Pleasant Ridge resident who supports the sanitary district. She would rather have less frequent pickups if yard waste could be composted rather than dumped in a landfill.
My cousin retired after 20+ years of service in Chicago as a garbage collector working for the Department of Streets and Sanitation with a full pension and benefits. He made a good living and the jobs were competitive. I wonder what our county offers the people who perform this critical task?
I'm not sure, but I doubt it (someone can correct me on that).
However, Chicago is having trouble paying for said pensions and services as it is: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2019/01/16/is-chicago-the-next-detroit/?sh=2e9c3fd06894.
One solution they've come up with this year is to increase property taxes: https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2021/9/20/22683955/chicago-2022-budget-mayor-lightfoot-speech-to-city-council-property-taxes-federal-relief-funds.
Is that something we'd want?
-Nick
Folks there is already a new plan in place. That is to take all your yard waste to the Government Center and dump it in the parking lot, similar to what the County has asked of us to do with our recyclable glass bottles.
This is just another example of BoS not doing the job they were voted in to do. It would be good to one get rid of the all the County Attorneys that the BoS hide behind to cover up for their incompetence. Folks are now piling yard waste on their front yards. I called code compliance and they tell me they cannot do anything about arboreal waste; an absolute useless response. This is going to cause residents to now burn their yard waste as a last resource. To make matters worse they have discontinued picking up plastic bags for yard waste, at time when they cannot do their job of collection. As a result, the paper bags now required are tearing from the weeks of rain and all that yard waste is going right into our storm water drains. So much for this County being environmentally conscience.
To resolve this problem, we need the BoS to put out an RFP that replaces them with a governing body that actually governs and not fake acting lawmakers. They have failed us on: education, taxes, capital budget, parks and recs, immigration, illegal boarding houses, public safety, and keeping our roadway median grass cut and curb/gutters clear of grass/road debris, and yard waste collection. Their excuses of blaming VDOT regarding regular grass cutting of our roadways and keeping the roadways clean are laughable. Neither VDOT or FFX have street cleaning equipment as they do in Alexandria and Arlington. The BoS is supposed to work with VDOT to address roadway issues, and that has not happened, and that is evident.
And they wonder why Mason has been coined the “DUMP.”
Solution: get rid of the BoS and get rid of yard waste!
Hey Anon 1:57, you forgot to mention the other coin for the BoS ~ Board of Stupids.
So, Anon, 1:57… you are right on many of these issues. But not on the mowing on the highways. Back in the 1930's this county passed on most of its road maintenance and construction to the state because they couldn't afford to keep up with it since it was a rural area and crawling out of the depression made it difficult for the county to keep up with the costs. Arlington County kept these functions. Fairfax & Alexandria have city government's that do this in those jurisdictions. So it all falls on VDOT on the grass mowing in the medians.
Each district had a rep at VDOT that they are suppose to work with in getting things done. VDOT is well funded, there is no reason why we in Mason have to live in a pig pen. There is more than enough wealth in this County to support VDOT's efforts. Remember we also pay a car tax, so their excuse of not enough funds is nonsense. Our filthy roadways are simply not their priority,
Man. First world problems. My yard waste sits in my yard. The horror. What's next, I have to acquire and figure out how to use my own lawn mover? This is not the leisure life I agreed to when I bought into the industrialized economy.
Its a hazard dude to storm water management. There is no excuse for this negligence by the County. If there not paying Collections staff enough, they could put all the illegals to work, who want to work and can.
The BOS definitely should not allow others to join the county pickup when the county cannot pick up yard waste now. We have had one pickup in the past 6 weeks and that was only after we emailed the group (don't know whether that had anything to do with the pickup or not). It is difficult to believe with almost 6% unemployment that there are no people to do these jobs. It sounds like the county cannot enforce a contract that they have implemented. For the person who suggested higher taxes, are you kidding? This is a management problem, not a money problem. The county gets plenty of our money.