Trash Service Representatives Offer Differing Views On City Of Bloomsdale’s Options

About 40 minutes of Bloomsdale’s one-hour, 15-minute Board of Aldermen meeting on January 8 was spent on discussion of trash disposal and recycling options.

Jordan Tatum of Republic Services and Kenny Chiarelli, owner of Freedom Waste Resource Hauling in Farmington, accepted invitations to discuss services with the board.

The city had been interested for several months in limiting the number of trash companies working in the city to save wear and tear on streets. The idea of selecting one company and adding residents’ trash service fees to utility bills also has been discussed.

Mayor Paul Monia explained why he had summoned the waste haulers.

“What we were after, we were trying to offer a service to the public, probably with the thought in mind of having other options available — recycling, dumpsters, whatever the case may be,” Monia said. “Naturally when you look at a situation like this, one of the biggest benefits to a city is to limit the number of trucks that’s within the city.”

He said the parking lot by the city hall is “perfect” except for the section of it where heavy trash trucks frequently cross. That part is in bad shape, he said.

“The idea is to reduce the number of footprints that have to be placed on these streets,” he said. “How I would like to address is, what’s out there to offer, what the prices are, what are your limitations, how do you pick it up. Those kind of things are how I want to see it.”

Tatum, Republic’s manager of municipal services out of Dexter, agreed that choosing one company was a good idea.

“There’s a lot of benefits, like you said, when a city decides to use one hauler,” he said.

He explained that a city would normally put out a bid proposal, stating what specific services it required.

“Then whoever wants to bid on that puts their best foot forward and says, ‘This is the price for what you’re asking for,’” Tatum said.

He added that a whole city going with one company gives it “more buying power” and better rates. …

Chiarelli had a different view on one firm handling a city’s trash.

“I think that every city that goes with one hauler ends up having issues,” he said. “It leads to a negative experience. We’re removing competition.”

He said he understood the concerns about streets, but he wanted to discuss that as a separate issue.

“I like to compete. Me and this guy, we compete for customers all day long,” Chiarelli said, referring to Tatum. “That is going to give you the best price and the best service, because if you don’t like what I’ve got, you can hire him; and if you don’t like what he has, you can hire me.”

See complete story in the January 16 edition of the Herald.