Tunk. Boro talks trash
BY MICHAEL J. RUDOLF
Wyoming County Press Examiner
TUNKHANNOCK - Discussion on the purchase of a new garbage truck for Tunkhannock Borough elevated briefly into talk over whether the borough should be in the garbage business at all.
The purchase of a new truck was listed on the agenda for last Thursday's meeting. However, before the item came up, borough resident Ned Slocum asked council if it ever considered ending garbage collection.
Slocum said he wasn't advocating such an action, but just wondering if it had ever been discussed. He questioned whether it might be more beneficial for residents to contract with individual haulers on their own.
Several council members said there are many inherent problems with allowing individuals to arrange their own collection. There would even be problems if the borough itself would contract with a private hauler, they believed.
"Once you're into someone else and they're charging you to haul your garbage, you don't know where its going to go," said council member Bob Robinson.
Robinson said because borough employees are responsible for the collection, they take pride in their work. The result is that garbage pick-up is quite efficient, he said.
With a private company, Robinson stated, "We could end up with a dirty town."
"By us being in the business, we establish order in the town," added council member Evelyn Baltrusaitis.
Going with a private hauler might also be more costly for residents, some council members mused.
Secretary Dawn Welch noted that for the average resident who puts out two bags of garbage a week, it costs $216 a year.
Council member Marshall Davis said he has done some informal research into the costs from five private haulers in the area. He said they range from about $210 a year to as much as $384.
But Davis agreed that a key issue is the efficiency of the work.
"Are they going to be interested in how the town's going to look?" he wondered.
Council president Stacy Huber noted that unless actual bids are sought, private haulers are likely to be reluctant to give out exact prices, for fear of getting under-bid.
Getting back to the issue of a new garbage truck, Robinson noted that the borough is very much in need of one because the current truck is about 19 years old. He added that it also needs some repair work.
Robinson said he learned that if the borough goes through the state's COSTARS group-purchasing program, it could get a new 25 cubic yard truck for $164,651.
Between the borough's refuse account and its reserve funds, there is enough money to pay for such a truck, Robinson noted. He said the borough also has a line of credit it could use for the purchase if council wants to do that, although he prefers not to take that route.
Huber asked Robinson and the public works committee to come up with a recommendation to make for next month's meeting.
In another matter, council learned that a re-write of the borough's zoning ordinance is continuing. Huber noted that the work could take five to six months to complete.
Council also approved the closing of Tioga Street for several events, including Founders' Day, the Triton Hose Company parade, the Memorial Day parade and Tunkhannock Area High School's homecoming parade.
A request for closing the street for this year's Christmas in Our Home Town event was tabled because organizer Nancy Parlo asked that it be done for two days, on the night of Friday, Dec. 3, and during the day on Saturday, Dec. 4. In past years, the street was closed only for the Friday evening part of the event.
Council said it will ask Parlo to attend a future meeting to explain the need for a change.
Parlo recently took over coordinating the event for the Tunkhannock Business and Professional Association following the death of Richard Santee.
