By Dan Shriner
Review Editor
By the spring of 2015, Orion Township residents may not have any choices in the use of a waste hauler for their recycling and garbage collection.
The Orion Township board is looking to establish a new ordinance that would mandate use of one firm to handle all waste collection. The board is expected to take the possible ordinance into consideration at its December 1 meeting. The proposed ordinance would cover only single family homes. Residents of apartment complexes and commercial or industrial businesses would not be affected.
The ordinance could require that the board issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to waste haulers with specific instructions about the requirements. The RFP would seek to establish costs per household and would spell out other requirements for the companies. The companies then would bid on becoming the single waste hauling company for the township.
Board members said the RFPs would likely not be considered by the board until 2015. All waste hauler licenses in the township are due for renewal in March.
Currently, there are 92 trucks licensed among about 12 different waste hauling companies to pick up refuse in the township. It is estimated that if only one company was licensed, the number of trucks necessary to cover the township would be fewer than 10.
On Monday, the board received a preliminary ordinance but several board members and some residents complained about the proposed ordinance and suggested that it needed more work before they could consider it or approve it. The board voted to ask supervisor Chris Barnett to make some modifications to the proposed ordinance and bring it back to the board on December 1.
Treasurer Mark Thurber said he was in favor of the single hauler but saw some loopholes in the proposed ordinance that needed to be closed. The board seemed split on support and opposition to the proposed ordinance.
Clerk Penny Shults said she supported a single waste hauler.
‘I wholeheartedly support it,? she said.
It is known that one of the sections could provide for penalties for those who don’t pay their waste bills. Those penalties may include placing the past due waste collection fees on property tax rolls even though each homeowner would not be billed by the township, but by the waste hauler. The proposed ordinance also contains language for enforcement that would be handled by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department, which handles all enforcement of all ordinances in the township. The proposed ordinance could have provisions for penalties and fines for those who do not comply.
The proposed ordinance may also have provisions for senior citizens and those who leave the area during winter months to opt out of service.
The decision to postpone will allow officials more time to study it and to perhaps incorporate parts of the older waste collection ordinance into the new ordinance.
Barnett said the question of a single waste hauler has been one of the biggest issues that residents talk about since he was elected in 2012. He said most people want to have a single hauler in part to cut down on the number of garbage trucks going up and down roads every day. The measure will help to alleviate wear and tear on the roads and would make some of the more narrow roads in the township safer.
The feedback has been about 80 percent in favor of a single hauler company and 20 percent against it, Barnett said.
Two residents, Lillian Hutchinson and Bill Holt, told the board they are against changes and wanted competition among the waste haulers.
‘I’m opposed to this,? Hutchinson said. ‘It feels like the Gestapo. I don’t like it. Why do I have to get your hauler and pay more? It’s not the American way. I don’t see how you can do this.?
Barnett said he has studied other communities and has found that residents would likely pay less if the township went with one hauler because that company would come in with a lower cost in an RFP. He said there is ample proof in neighboring communities to support his findings about lower costs.
Holt suggested the township designate three different companies, not one, to collect refuse. He said that would still allow for competition and lower prices.
‘It’s anti-business,? Holt said of the single hauler plan. ‘Eliminating competition will inevitably raise costs.?
Barnett noted that the Village of Lake Orion and Rochester have recently received new collection estimates from their single waste haulers and found that prices went down. He said he has looked at 16 area communities that use single waste haulers and all have saved money.
Trustee Neil Porter said he was opposed to the single hauler plan because it would eliminate competition.
‘People will not have a choice,? he said. ‘It creates extra work for the township.?
He also noted that it will create extra work for the deputies working in the township because it will be the sheriff department’s responsibility to enforce any laws relating to the ordinance.
Trustees Mike Flood and John Steimel each suggested that the township take the old waste hauling ordinance and use portions from it to combine with a new ordinance to address concerns and make sure everything is done properly.
Barnett agreed that there should be some modifications before the new ordinance would be ready for consideration by the board.