Trash talk a major topic at Shenandoah council

SHENANDOAH – There was plenty of “trash talk” at Monday night’s Shenandoah Borough Council meeting.

Borough Council said they are dealing with two issues regarding trash: some residents using outside haulers and others putting out too much trash.

At the meeting, council approved a resolution setting a limit of five bags of household garbage for the borough’s curbside garbage collection. Each bag must not be more than 30 gallons in size or 40 pounds in weight. Excess bags will incur a $10 fee per bag.

Another issue, Borough Manager Mike Cadau said, was the existence of previous agreements between the borough and residents regarding trash collection and private haulers.

Mayor Andrew Szczyglak recalled a rule well over a decade ago that “if somebody brought up a receipt showing that they properly disposed of their garbage, they didn’t have to pay a garbage bill, which I never understood.”

Borough ordinance prohibits the use of outside trash haulers, which Solicitor Shane Hobbs said is rooted in the prior use of unlicensed trash haulers or improper disposal of trash.

A letter was sent out in January reminding residents that residential trash must be collected by the borough.

Trash bills in Shenandoah are $176 every six months and Cadau said there is at least $200,000 in delinquent trash bills that are outstanding.

After a lengthy discussion on the subject and the requirement, several residents still questioned the ordinance in the public comment portion.

One man who moved into a Jardin Street home late last year complained about receiving a garbage bill, saying he takes the garbage to the Sunbury dump himself.

“There’s no reason for [my son] to be issued a garbage bill when he owns the property and he’s only here for two-to-three months out of the year,” the man said. The man later admitted that he lives in the home full-time, though his son is not there full-time.

Another woman said she owns an apartment building and she cut a deal with the borough around 2020 to pay one trash bill for the building instead of for each unit. Later, she took on trash collection in the building herself and cut another deal to stop borough trash collection.

“All of a sudden now, I’m getting bills again,” she said. “I don’t put any garbage out.”

“I’m not putting any garbage out. I make sure my garbage is handled. I have one big bag and there isn’t a lot to put out,” she said. “I don’t see paying five times $176 for one bag for what I was told I didn’t have to do.”

“Times have changed,” Council President Joe Boris said before asking the woman where she disposes of the trash. She said she uses a private hauler and Boris said the hauler is in violation of the law and could be cited.

She claimed “it isn’t fair.”

“I understand your frustrations, but I think any resident in Shenandoah can all have a story,” Boris said. “[If we make an exception,] where do we stop it?”

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