Single trash hauler to be discussed. Meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.
By Don Rush
Change is in the air, and it’s just not a spring breeze. Oxford Township will hold its first a public hearing
on whether or not to change the way trash is picked up at its April 12 meeting at Lakepoint Community
Church, 1550 W. Drahner Rd.
“We’ve been working on this a little over a year,” said Township Trustee Jonathan Nold who is part of a
three person committee investigating switching the township to a single waste hauler community.
Also on the committee are Trustee Margie Payne and Township Clerk Curtis Wright. “In It was an
investigation only – a feasibility study. We hired a private contractor who also worked with Orion
Township and this is their Forte.”
The company is Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) from Ann Arbor.
“They had a good reputation with other communities so, with board approval, we brought them on board
and then developed an RFP, Request for Proposal. We took that RFP to the township board and told them
we’re ready to bid it out.”
Using the Michigan Inter-governmental Trade Network (MITN), the township’s specifications were put
out to bid to contractors who do whole community waste hauling. On the first of March the committee
accepted three proposals.
“We reviewed them for two things,” Nold said. “They were supposed to come back with the technical side
and a cost side. Technical is what they were going to do – the bread and butter of collecting the waste in
our township for households.”
After the review process, Nold said the committee interviewed the companies who met the township’s
criteria – which, according to Payne, was 70 pages long.
“We had a lot of criteria,” she said.
Nold added, “We kind of adopted a plan of Savings, Safety and Roads. The savings part of it allows more
money in our township homes to spend on food, medication and household expenses. We’ve done our
research and as far as we know the cost will be lower than the majority of haulers in our community.”
Nold said, “The three Township Board members that live close (Nold, Trustee Rod Charles and Clerk
Wright) all pay a different rate for trash.”
“And,” Payne added, “Those three have the same hauler and they live around the block from each other.”
Wright said residents will be billed quarterly by the contractor. “It’s cheaper, more cost effective for the
home owners if the hauler bills, rather than the township.”
Having a single hauler in the township will also be safer for township residents, by reducing the number
of waste hauling trucks in the neighborhoods.
“I live in Oxford Woods,” Payne said,“If you have five trash haulers in your neighborhood, you have not
less than 10 trucks a week, because of recycling. I used to walk my kids to school and I’m thinking about
the children’s safety.”
“Some neighborhoods have no safety paths or sidewalks like on Tanview,” Nold said, “If you’re out there
walking your dog, even if the truck is going 25 miles an hour, that’s still a big truck going by you. People
have mentioned to me, they wish there weren’t as many trucks on the roads. Don’t think we’re doing this
just because we can, we’re doing it because it is the best thing for the community.”
They also believe by having one waste hauler in the community, the wear and tear on area roads will be
reduced.“The savings on the roads will be tremendous,” Payne said.
The committee said they average trash hauling trucks weigh 33,000 pounds empty and, when full, up to
50,000 pounds. “The trucks are not helping that ordeal,” Nold said.
At the April 12th meeting, a new single hauler ordinance will be introduced. If the first reading is
approved by the township board then a second reading will be on May 10. The township ordinance will
follow if approved by the Township Board.
If all goes as planned, they hope the contract for a single trash hauler will begin July 1. The new hauler
will handle collecting the old trash carts and delivering new ones. Also, Nold said, for the first 150 days
of the new contract, a representative from the hauling company will be stationed in the township hall to
answer potential customer questions and concerns.
“Transitition is the key,” Nold said, “And, we’re all aware of that and it’s going to be a big one. We have
tried to learn from other communities’ mistakes. I’ve been in contact with Fenton, Orion, Independence,
Davison and Oxford Village. We wanna’ learn from their mistakes to move forward. We’ve done our due
diligence. That’s why we hired the consultant to help make this a smooth transition. It will be nice to drive
out of your subdivision and only see trash containers out there one day a week instead of five times a
week.”
“We know we will receive some push back on this,” Payne said. “We know people can be passionate
about their trash hauler, but in the long term this will be the best for the township residents and township
infrastructure. We believe this will help the residents.”