Just how deaf are the Commissioners in Gwinnett County? Well let me see is I can help everyone understand. Last year I served along with a group of volunteers on The Gwinnett County Trash Advisory Committee. We held 6 public meetings throughout the county and the one thing we heard at every meeting was that the citizens of Gwinnett County wanted to be able to choose who their trash hauler was to be. The citizens wanted to have the right to fire a trash hauler that did not perform up to the citizen’s expectations.
The county then paid $131,000 of our tax dollars to R W Beck, a consulting firm, who also conducted public meetings to obtain citizen input regarding trash collection in Gwinnett County. The overwhelming result of the citizens input during these meetings, at least of the ones I was able to attend, once again was that the citizens of Gwinnett County want to choose their trash hauler.
Fast forward to March 2, 2010 Board of Commissioners meeting and the vote to approve the New Gwinnett County Trash Plan. Below is from the Gwinnett County Website:
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners adopted a new solid waste ordinance for unincorporated Gwinnett County during the board’s business session on March 2, 2010. You may read the ordinance as drafted and also view this brief video clip of discussion among commissioners during the meeting that reflects a slight change made to the ordinance before it was adopted. The ordinance as adopted will be posted as soon as possible.
Service will begin on July 1, 2010, giving residents and haulers time to transition to the new system. The new ordinance, which does not affect city residents, will provide a reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally-conscious solid waste management system and also will allow Gwinnett County to fulfill its requirements under state law. All homeowners will have access to services for the collection and disposal of household garbage, expanded recycling, white goods (household appliances), bulky wastes (mattresses, furniture, etc.), and yard trimmings.
The new ordinance sets five service districts and authorizes the County to enter into one or more service agreements with a private company or companies to provide residential garbage service with no more than one service provider within each district. Fees for residential waste services will be made payable to Gwinnett County and will be billed as a residential solid waste fee on the same bill as county taxes.
Approval of a new ordinance is the first required step in the process of implementing a new solid waste management plan. Details of the service areas, costs, and collection logistics will be made available as soon as they are finalized.
Gwinnett County’s Solid Waste Information Center – 770.822.7141 – is open for callers Monday through Friday between 7:00am and 7:00pm.
Now I don’t know about the rest of you but I don’t think that 5 districts with only one hauler per district equals choice. My parents always told me not to make fun of the handicapped and I have adhered to that policy up until now. This Board of Commissioners is handicapped. They have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are DEAF. They have no desire to represent the wishes of the citizens of Gwinnett County in this trash matter. So here is my recommendation for the Board of Commissioners… RECALL THESE DEAF IDIOTS NOW!
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Robert~Your landlord will probably become pretty savvy about the time the property tax bill hits.
Sorry guys if I repeat what you all have said in previous posts. New to the site, yet, just concerned as you all are.
This is just another endeavor for Gwinnett to make even more money. Just in case our property taxes aren’t high enough already. The taxes are increasing at an epic proportion. This program is an epic infringement of our rights. Protests were held, meetings were organized, but the BOC still decides to enact this unconstitutional program. If illegal dumping was that big of an epic issue, they should invest more to root out the problem, not fine we (the taxpayers) with this program. Money’s already tight in this economy, and now I am faced to pay 214+ a year with this program. I oppose this program wholeheartedly. My household stopped trash service ever since March, simply because we no longer needed their services (Mainly because we have our own business and we transport our residential waste (1 bag of trash per day which amounts to like 7/ week) to our commercial site). Gwinnett doesn’t factor in the fact that many residence don’t need the service because they don’t really have epic amounts of trash and can take care of it in a legal fashion. We took care of our trash, we didn’t dump them on the streets. If the only way we can resolve this program is by not re-electing those “deaf idiots,” we may have a long way to suffer. Election is quite far off, and I think we should resolve this ASAP. In conclusion, it is very safe to say that the government, who serve in the interest of the people, are not doing their job, and are ripping us off…majorly. Out for now.
Sammie,
You need to do more research. This is not unconstitutional. This is not just about illegal dumping. Government handling of homeowners trash has a long history in this country and even in the cities here in Gwinnett. It is a health issue, a traffic issue, a road maintenance issue as well as to stop homeowners from illegally dumping trash as they now have service at their residences. It is estimated that 20% of the households in the county don;t have trash pickup. Some by choice to dispose of trash at the dump or in their businesses commercial dumpster and others to save money by dumping the trash illegally.
It will not stop commercial companies from dumping trash if they so choose. It does not allow for exceptions such as unoccupied homes or homeowners who choose to dump their trash legally although putting household waste in commercial dumpsters is questionable. It will allow for more goods to be recycled and kept out of the landfills which are rapidly filling and causing rates to go up to haul trash farther away to distant landfills.
The rate while higher than I think it should be is still lower than many pay now. Most people complaining are not complaining about the cost but about not having choice. People are assuming that service will go down under the new plan but the county experience with outsourcing the operations of the transiot system say otherwise. Transit service is good and complaints are resolved quickly. There is no reason to think the trash plan will be any different.
Taxes are not going up except if your property value does. However that is not the issue as property values have dropped and the school system and the county government have both decided to freeze the millage rate which should result in a lower tax bill this year.
I did a bit of the research for him… Trash pick up in the City of Lawrenceville is $7.00 per month. Enough Said!
Just what does that $7 cover? Even you said you paid around twice that amount. If it the same service you got then you need to find out why Lawrenceville provides service so cheap or is it subsidized with other tax money like Snellville.
There is an important difference, choice. If I don’t like the transit service, I can always use another means to get from point a to point b. If I dont’ like my trash service under this plan, I just have to suck it up and accept it.
I just moved to a new house in Dacula. I have spent 3.5 weeks trying to get someone to service my house. I finally was able to get Republic services to provide me a trash can, after several phone calls and emails. Then they did not even pick up my trash. I had to pay $12 and drive it to a landfill myself. Then yesterday, they emptied a secondary trash can, took some boxes, and left the main trash can full.
If you described this scenario to me and left out the party organizing this, I would think it was an episode of the Sopranos.
It IS a business model they stole from the show. (sopranos).
Art has more faith in a gov’t agency that I can.., ever, under any circumstance. Look at the money Marta wasted, now they come back crying for money.
We still don’t know how they justify the plan cost, any more than a $500 toilet seat.
I do have faith in government but it isn’t blind faith. I’ve seen enough bad stuff to realize the best intentions don’t always work out or need work like changing personnel.
Bad experiences now from companies that don’t care since they are losing business under the plan is not a fair view. If starting next month the problems happen and the county doesn’t do anything after you call and complain then you have a right to talk about problems that make this plan a problem. make sure when you talk to the county they tell you what they will be doing to resolve the problem and then follow-up to make sure the problem was registered and something will happen such as a penalty to the company if they haven’t resolved the issue in a short period of time like by the end of the next business day. The contract is not forever nor is the plan to be the final one never to be reviewed and modified again.
It requires constant vigilance by the citizens and constant oversight by the elected officals. Demand nothing less.
Ron Let us not forget about the stadium deal that is costing us a lot of money also.
We just got our new cans today, a group from Pennesylvania delivered them. They said that in there state they have bags similar to some cities have here. It is easy and simple to do, no big cans to haul around, and you pay for what you throw away. They also recycle but not mandontory. They also told us that several home owners told them that they did not want them. Please do not shoot the messenger about this was his reply.
Once again it is stick it to the homeowner to pay for all the problems that some one else got us into.
Mack you may want to get ready some of us are getting ready to move out. Will the last person to leave turn out the lights,
@Winit~I am ready!
Believe me I was on ‘em about that stadium from the start I believe it was Nasuiti who bragged about the county surplus, and how this stadium was just a portion of it.
But their divine wisdom caused them to have to increase taxes, delay opening SPLOST firehouses, & want to cut back on public service. Some folks witnessed Bannister’s outrage to be called on administration policy.
How in the world do we as taxpayers get something like that thrown on us without so much as a public hearing? You’ll recall Shirely Lassiters famous quote during the trash meetings, that she was not reading emails as she knew in advance ‘they are all negative’.
‘If the BOC is that gifted, why didn’t they see the shortfalls, when it was becoming a
prevalent feeling that the roller coaster was heading down not up.
Bannister has just been arrested ( on channel 2 right now) for DUI driving a city vehicle.
This guy needs to lose his seat!
CROOK!
If other county employees were found to have done the same thing they would be fired immediately. So who fires the chairman?
There is a county policy on use of cars. If there is a rule about DUI; I see no choice but to follow to the letter.
Citizens must hold the other BOC members to the fire.
Danny Porter needs to watch this’in.
I Believe it may have deputies, so Butch Conway will be ‘watching’
With the arrest of Charlie this will not stop the mandate for trash pick up. However watch the ramaining BOC run away from him as fast as they can. He should not be granted special priviliges in this case due to his position. He should be treated just like anyone else. At times in my job we use company cars, one rule is that if we are arrested for DUI it is automatic dismissal, no if ands or buts GONE. He has done to himself what county residents could not do. For this reason we should wait until he is convicted then ask for his resignation. In the mean time he should step down from his position as Chairman until his case is resolved, with out pay of course.
While I am certainly not a big fan of Charles Bannister, it sure would be interesting to know who placed the so called “anonymous” tip to the “non-911″ phone number that was dialed form that restaurant. This is certainly out of the ordinary. Traffic/DUI functions would belong to Lilburn Police Department OR Gwinnett County Police Department, NEVER the Sheriff’s Department.
It would almost seem that an insider with the Sheriff’s Department made that call. VERY strange indeed !
Super Dave~Does it really matter. If he was intoxicated, he was intoxicated. I’m just glad they got him off the road. Last week two young men that I coached were killed in a wreck and alcohol is suspected as a major contributing factor.
In the end if the county has a policy about alcohol and county cars ;then Bannister should be held accountable for whatever that rule is, regardless of the blood level.
He was alleged seen drinking in public and then stopped allegedly in a county car.
If there there have other disciplinary actions to county employees,, in similar instances. then we need to see how they were handled.to measure fairness.
Not to mention that they are billing taxpayers for all of 2010 AND 2011 in advance. How presumptious is that? Who’s to say that I or anyone else will still be living in this county that far in advance? The administrative costs of refunding thousands of dollars in pre-billed charges will be huge when people leave this God-forsaken county. But I’m sure that’s not bothering the commission since they realize they can collect thousands in windfall interest profits by sitting on the escrow for a year that they illegally seized. If there’s any justice, a judge needs to step in and block this plan. I’m not holding my breath. Boot the Incumbents. It’s becoming a mantra at all levels of government.
I heard lots of people claiming the plan is illegal but no one has explained what is illegal about it. If anyone expects a judge to step in and block the plan then they had better get to the state attorney general fast instead of just waiting for something to happen. Since the tax bill we will be receiving in a few weeks is for 2011 it doesn’t seem strange to collect all the taxes and fees for 2011 up front. Do you get any pre-paid taxes back when you sell your home? The same rule would apply to the fees. We do need to work on the billing for the trash pick-up to allow for payments on a more timely basis and not all up front since the trash haulers seemed to be fine collecting only three months fees up front until now.
To answer your question…Do you get any pre-paid taxes back when you sell your home? Yes you do. Taxes are prorated based on the portion of the year that each owner actually owned the property.
Guess again;
If you think they are going to refund a fee I think Monkeys will fly out of your butt before that happens, I’d l like someone to say I am wrong.
What is the reason it is a ‘fee, not a tax? I suppose it falsely keeps the millage rate deceptively lower.
By the way; I don’t think employees of Waste pro know how to apply a sticker on a waste can anywhere near straight.
.. and i don’t think a sticker that large is required, (if any) since the PU is mandatory anyway.
Thank your BOC for forcing us to ADVERTISE.
Perhaps that in itself grounds for legal action.
In Dekalb Country is it a fee or is it covered under tax?
I did not say that the county was going to refund the proration, I said it was prorated between the owners which is exactly what happens.
I don’t doubt that a benefit of billing the fee seperately from the tax is to keep the millage rate down. The cities incorporate the trash fee into the propery tax with the exception of the cities that collect their trash fee via the trash bags sold like Duluth.
The city of Duluth sells trash bags at Kroger and other places. With Shirley Lassister the former Mayor of Duluth it is suprising that she did not try to sell this plan. it is simple. you buy a box of bags (20 per box) for $30. That usually lasts about 20 weeks for a family of 2 like our house has in it. No carts and you pay for what you throw away and that is it. You also have recycle bins that they use to offset the cost of the program. Roberson picks them up on Wed. Why Roberson was not selected for Lassister’s district is beyond us here. They also do Suwanee I think. That does not get tne number of trucks off the road, does it.
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