Town clears air with Victory

Friday morning saw the gathering of Pine Haven staff and officials with Victory Sanitation owners Clark and Zane Verhulst and crewman Daniel Nabers to discuss and resolve any issues including a few that have come up over the last couple of months. Public work director Sunny Schell advocated this idea, saying, "Winter's a good time to address it and see where our problem areas are."

Mayor Bill Cunningham immediately came to the point, expressing his concern about complaints as the crew picks up the residential garbage. "We kind of need to get on the same page," he said.

One of the complaints addressed was the seeming issue of the crew not picking up all of the garbage in the containers. Zane Verhulst explained that often people will not bag refuse, instead just throwing dirty diapers and pop cans loose into the cans.

"It all freezes in there," he said. Per the contract, all garbage must be bagged.

Zane Verhulst answered the three 30-pound bag limit brought up by the mayor, saying, "It was started years ago because you guys wanted a real competitive bid and picking up bags is way more efficient than picking up cans." Clark Verhulst stated that they pick up many 50-pound bags as well.

Victory, Clark Verhulst assured the group, does not require residents to have the container on the roadside if they have the garbage neatly bagged and stacked for easy reach on pick up day. "Three 36-gallon bags or four 30-gallon bags," he said.

This concession may alleviate the issue of distance between the truck and the containers. The crew are not allowed to drive off the edging on the roadside, neither are they allowed on the sidewalk; due to liability, they do not travel onto private property like driveways, thus limiting the distance and manner in which they can gather the bagged garbage, according to Zane Verhulst.

Many containers are kept in "racks" to keep the wind from blowing the empty bins away. Councilwoman Kristi Speed reported that she puts her can on the ground next to the mailboxes by the roadway in front of her home instead of on the sidewalk.

"That way, if the wind blows, it's not going to go here nor there. It's not in the sidewalk and it's not in the driveway," she said.

However, she said that and others have dealt with the dumpsters not being returned to the racks, but left in the middle of the street. "That was pretty uncalled for," she said.

Nabers admitted that such behavior needed addressed. "We want to be easy to work with for you guys, we want to make sure we're meeting you half way and doing what we need to do and also making sure everything's done the right way," he said.

Schell, too, has dealt with this problem as she plows in the winter, stating, "Then I have to stop and get out and move the cans back." The crew wants the dumpsters on the sidewalk, but Schell plows those as well, said the mayor.

For residents who have issues with limited ground at the road side, said Clark Verhulst, "It would be best for them to just put their bags out at the edge of their driveway in the morning instead of even using their can."

The men addressed any apparent "misses" by the garbage truck.

"We've had one miss and we went the next day or the day after and got it," said Zane Verhulst. "The only other misses I'm aware of was right after the storm on the 31st. We came into town with double trucks just to get caught up. People may have considered it a miss if we didn't take it all, but we kind of had an understanding that if they weren't going to bag it that we wouldn't pick it up."

The meeting was adjourned on good terms and a better understanding of the contract.