Council says yes to curbside recycling

Unanimously approves five year contract extension with county

Curbside recycling pick-up will continue in Harbor Springs for another five years following City Council's approval of a new contract with Emmet County Department of Public Works (DPW). Council approved the new contract at its regular meeting Monday night, July 20.

Harbor Springs joins four other county municipalities in approving curbside recycling contract renewals including Petoskey, Bear Creek Township, Little Traverse Township, and Resort Township, according to Kate Melby, communications coordinator for the Emmet County DPW.

"We are very excited that Harbor Springs approved the contract, and did so unanimously," Melby said Tuesday morning. She added that contracts have been offered to West Traverse and Springvale Townships and Alanson-Littlefield.

"West Traverse is where we have had the most people asking for it, so we are hopeful we can add them," Melby said.

City manager Tom Richards noted that a new contract has been in discussion for a number of months. The current contract would have expired October 1.

Richards said city council's Curbside Recycling Committee (Richards, council members Pringle Pfeifer and Laura Kors) had several discussions with the county over the contract offer. In his summary to council, Richards noted that "the chief concern discussed was the extremely seasonal makeup of the community (Harbor Springs), resulting in a low 21% of the possible maximum participation rate…the lowest of the five (participating communities in Emmet County). Compared to Petoskey, the Harbor Springs annual participation rate is 50% lower. This results in a higher cost per pick-up, and a lower value for the monthly cost of the service."

Richards indicated that charges for the service were calculated on a county-wide basis. All communities pay the same cost per household. Other methods of calculating costs were originally considered, Richards reported, but abandoned because of the administrative complexity and higher costs.

He noted that seasonal service has been offered, but that would involve excluding certain areas entirely from service during specific months, thereby leaving any full-time residences in those areas unserved.

In meeting with the Emmet County DPW board, Richards reported their indication that if Harbor Springs were to withdraw from participation, costs for all other users in the county will be proportionately higher.

"They emphasized that like electric, water and sewer services, the recycling pick-up system requires trucks, drivers and capacity for the peak usage on a year round basis, even though it isn't always used to that full capacity."

Currently the City's monthly charge for the service was $2.26 per residential household per month. The City currently has 844 homes in the program, with a monthly cost of $1,907, or annual cost of $22,889, Richards reported.

The County has offered a five year renewal of the contract at a new (2009/2010) cost of $2.31 per month, with an average annual cost escalation of approximately 2.2%. At the new rate, the City's monthly cost is $1,949 or $23,395 per year.

Council member Pringle Pfeifer expressed reservations about renewing the contract given the city's low participation rate, seasonal nature and the cost given the ability residents have to utilize recycling drop off sites such as the one located at the Harbor Springs IGA parking lot.

"I still have very big reservations about this," Pfeifer told her council colleagues Monday night. "We have spent $110,000 in the past five years on this and are looking at another $115,000 for the next five years. That is a quarter of a million dollars for something that is not very well used."

Calling herself an avid recycler and big supporter of recycling, Pfeifer suggested there might be alternative options such as offering to have city crews pick up recycling for those residents who could not get to the drop-off sites.

Council member Laura Kors agreed that "there is a lot that troubles me about this contract, but I am still very much in favor of going forward with it."

Kors disagreed with the County's assertion that costs are the same across all communities.

"It doesn't cost the same amount to drive through Harbor Springs as it does Petoskey where the service is being used much more extensively. The labor cost is not the same," she asserted.

"However, I do not want to do something here like eliminating a certain street from service.

"This goes back to my belief that we as a city offer a menu of services. Not everyone takes advantage of all the services. Look, most of the community is not using our snow (plowing) service because they are not here in the winter and that is one of our most expensive services," Kors said.

"Is there a way to educate and train the community to better utilize the service," council member Mike Heinz asked. "I am like Laura (Kors), I think we should have this service. Maybe we could do a better job of educating the citizens."

"I like the concept of participating at the county level," council member Alan Hegedus said. "We are helping an organization that is doing an incredible job of keeping things out of landfills and we are participating with our peers in making our community better."

Council discussed regular reminders in city mailings about recycling pick-up day (Tuesday in Harbor Springs) and helping to distribute the county recycling bins as ways of increasing participation in the city.

In the end, the vote to extend the contract for curbside recycling for another five years in the city of Harbor Springs was unanimous.

-Charles O'Neill

This is part of the July 22, 2009 online edition of Harbor Light Newspaper.

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