A sweeping new solid-waste ordinance would require Johns Creek residents and businesses to contract for weekly garbage and recycling collection and force all haulers doing business in the city to register.
The mandate, presented to the City Council Monday evening, would establish a monthly fee to fund city-wide ecological projects, road repairs and education programs.
Marie Garrett, special projects consultant, said the city needs to take the action to meet state requirements in solid-waste reduction measures. The ordinance would enable the city to track how much trash it produces by licensing all haulers and requiring them to record tonnage.
The proposal would charge haulers a monthly fee of $1 per residence, 50 cents for multifamily and 5 percent of total revenues collected from commercial customers. To recover the money, haulers could only charge their customers 50 percent of the fee, or they could absorb the entire cost.
The city expects to generate $426,000 a year from the fee.
But the City Council was not ready to move forward with the plan until it had a detailed budget.
Mayor Mike Bodker said he was troubled that the salary for a solid waste staff was not included in the plans. He said he wants residents to know what that monthly charge is going for.
Council members agreed to consider the ordinance in 30 days after staff had time to draw up a more detailed spending plan for the environmental fees.
As proposed, the ordinance would force all haulers to have a contract with the city and display a decal on their equipment to prove it. Currently, the city has no law regulating who operates garbage service in Johns Creek.
It also would allow in the future for the city to establish exclusive service zones to limit the number of haulers allowed in a neighborhood. Garrett said there are some neighborhoods with as many as six haulers driving through in a day.
The proposal took some heat during the council meeting.
"You guys are going to approve who I can and who I cannot contract with to dispose of my trash," resident Mark Endres said. "Those companies that want to do business here are going to have to go through a process and pay a mandatory fee to you outside of their normal cost-of-doing-business fees."
About the Author
The Latest
Featured
