Black Mountain prepares to roll out sanitation services
Town trash and recycling collection to begin this month
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
September 8, 2020
The Town of Black Mountain received two rear-loading sanitation trucks in July. The public works department is preparing to begin providing residents with sanitation services on Monday, Sept. 28. Photo by Fred McCormick
Beginning Monday, Sept. 28, residents within the town limits of Black Mountain will no longer see the familiar green and white Waste Pro trucks making weekly refuse collection stops and scheduled brush removal in front of their homes. Instead, a small fleet of vehicles with a Town of Black Mountain logo will service the routes.
Black Mountain’s newly formed sanitation department is preparing to launch waste collection services later this month, as the town’s four-year contract with the Florida-based regional sanitation corporation expires Sept. 30.
Aldermen voted in March to reject a new contract proposal from Waste Pro that would have nearly doubled the amount the town was paying for trash and recycling collection under the previous agreement. In a December 2019 meeting between town manager Josh Harrold and Waste Pro representatives, the company presented terms for an extension that would have increased the current rate of $12.90 to $25 per household. The offer, which was the sole response to the request for proposals issued by the town last fall, would have increased the annual price of the service from $660,000 to $1.2 million, not including the disposal fees at the Buncombe County landfill.
Waste Pro reportedly conducted 212,000 garbage collection stops, and 116,000 recycling pickups in 2019. The company cited excessive waste in Black Mountain as the primary factor in the proposed increase of the service cost. While the town limits weekly trash collection to no more than six bags of refuse per household each week, public works director Jamey Matthews said it is not uncommon for residents to place as many as 16 bags of refuse out for collection. Waste Pro reported as many as 30 bags of trash left for collection at some residences.
Excessive brush collection in Black Mountain, resulting in unscheduled trips to the transfer station, was another factor in the price increase, according to Waste Pro.
Town brings sanitation service in-house
Harrold recommended establishing a sanitation division within the existing public works department as a cost-effective solution to rising services fees.
“Cost is a big factor in this,” he said. “The proposed contract would’ve represented an increase in the realm of $275,000 per year, and that is a significant amount of money for the town, especially if you’re not raising taxes and not charging a garbage collection fee.”
Black Mountain Town Manager Josh Harrold, right, and public works director Jamey Matthews inspect one of two rear-loading sanitation trucks purchased by the town in 2020. The town’s sanitation division of the public works department will begin operation later this month. Fred McCormick
Harrold presented a conceptual operations plan for trash and recycling services to the board of aldermen in March. The proposal estimated the town could provide sanitation service to the approximately 4,500 collection stops currently served by Waste Pro with a division that included five employees, two rear-loading sanitation trucks, a brush truck equipped with a knuckle boom and a pick-up truck, affixed with a hopper, to access areas that are not accessible to the large equipment.
The outline was based on research that included in-person visits with other municipalities in the region with established sanitation divisions. While Waste Pro renewed its contract to provide service for unincorporated areas of Buncombe in the fall of 2019, Black Mountain was the sole jurisdiction within the county that did not provide waste removal for its residents.
“We went to Asheville, Weaverville and Marion to discuss their budgets and operations,” said Matthews, whose public works department has worked as a liaison between Black Mountain sanitation customers and the service provider. “We looked at what type of equipment they used, how many trucks they had and how many employees they used for sanitation.”
Harrold estimated the cost of operations for the first fiscal year at approximately $615,000. Aldermen approved $419,000 in the 2020-21 budget to fund operating expenses beginning in late September. The town financed $624,500 for sanitation equipment and infrastructure.
The sanitation division will operate out of the town’s public works and recreation facility on Black Mountain Avenue.
Preparing to launch
While waste collection won’t begin until later this month, Matthews and public works senior administrative assistant Tausha Millwood have been developing protocols for the division throughout much of the year.
“It’s a lot like starting a new business,” Matthews said. “Our department’s role in the past, when we’ve contracted the service, has been to serve as a liaison between local residents and the service provider, but now we’re in a position where we are building a new department from the ground up.”
In addition to her administrative duties for the public works department, Millwood has been the primary contact between residents and the service provider. She will continue to function in that role when the town launches the service.
“Right now, I serve as kind of a go-between for citizens and Waste Pro,” she said. “Going forward, I will still be the primary contact for customers, but I will be communicating directly with our drivers.”
The town hired five experienced sanitation employees, according to Matthews, and each will be trained to collect waste and drive. The two-person crews that staff the two rear-loading trucks will be able to alternate responsibilities. The fifth employee will operate the “scout truck,” a modified Ford F-350, to serve downtown businesses and some residents. The three trucks will service four zones within the town limits.
Weekly collection of trash and bi-weekly collection of recycling will continue on a Monday - Thursday schedule, which was posted Aug. 28 on the town’s sanitation web page. Current scheduled collection days will change when the town takes over the service.
The deadline to place trash and recycling near the road will continue to be no later than 7 a.m. on the day of collection.
Bulk items will be collected each Friday, by request. Residents can schedule one bulk pick-up for free each month, and a $25 charge for each additional item that month. Material resulting from the departure of a rental property must be disposed of by the landlord of that unit. Bulk items are to be placed near the curb no earlier than 5 p.m. the Thursday before pick-up.
Home appliances and electronics, or “white goods,” will also be collected each Friday, by request. A $10 fee, required by the landfill for the disposal of televisions, must be paid prior to collection of those specific items.
Brush will be collected, by request, on Fridays. Residents are allowed to dispose of 4 cubic yards — or approximately 6 feet by 4 feet — of clippings and small shrubbery per week. The town will not collect waste from projects performed by tree removal and landscaping companies.
A comprehensive list of sanitation updates can be found here.
Public works director Jamey Matthews inspects a new sanitation truck. His department will oversee sanitation services for the town beginning Monday, Sept. 28. Fred McCormick
“We’ve done extensive research and planning to develop a plan that allows us to provide quality service to the citizens,” Matthews said. “We built the routes in-house, and it was a team effort. I wanted to build this in a way that works for everyone on our team, which I believe will help us operate efficiently.”
Direct town oversight of sanitation services should help facilitate “a better overall customer experience” for residents, according to Matthews, but establishing the new division will be “a challenge.”
“We’re going to be taking a lot of notes, especially during the first year,” he said. “We want to identify what’s working well, and what we may be able to improve on. We’ll have a lot of meetings to determine what we can do to get better.”
Following guidelines is key
Adherence to the town’s sanitation policies will play a key role in the overall efficiency of the new service, according to Millwood.
“Because Waste Pro is such a large company, they will pick up large amounts of trash that exceed the current limits,” she said. “That’s a big part of the reason why we see those trucks out here until as late as 9 p.m. sometimes. However, we’re operating with less resources, so it’s very important that we follow the guidelines we’ve established.”
Consistent cooperation with the new policies will ease the transition, Matthews added.
“Our goal is to provide the best service possible, and operating a small department in the most efficient way possible will help us do that,” he said. “The more familiar the citizens are with the guidelines, the smoother the transition will be.”