A plan to assign trash haulers to specific parts of Cobb County will be presented to the Cobb Board of Commissioners Tuesday, as they begin dig into proposed code amendment changes to county ordinances.
The work session will take place at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
The full agenda can be found by clicking here; the meeting also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.
Commissioners have already been hearing from citizens about the trash pickup proposal, which is designed to alleviate collection issues that have existed in Cobb for several years.
Under the proposed trash pickup amendment, four trash pickup zones would be created, and each would be designated a single hauler. Other haulers would not be allowed to service that zone.
Citizens organizing against that change, proposed by the head of the Cobb Sustainability, Waste and Beautification Department (click here to read), don’t like not having a choice and say their trash bills will go up.
A reader opposed to the change told East Cobb News that “many of us are happy with our small business haulers and don’t want the inefficient county to take over and make such demands to destroy free market competitive solutions.”
A website called Save My Cobb Trash Collector has been launched to fight the proposal. It was created by East Cobb resident Hill Wright, who said he’s heard from a number of citizens who also are upset by the proposal.
He said he’s spoken to trash haulers and they’re not happy either, with some of the smaller ones fearful they’ll be put out of business.
The website claims that Cobb is planning to charge customers an 18 percent additional fee to their trash bill.
That information isn’t in the proposed code amendment, but Wright told East Cobb News he’s heard that figure from speaking with county staffers.
The fee would be used in part to create a call center to handle citizen issues with trash pickup service.
The trash pickup change “would cause the service to get much worse,” he said. “They’re trying to solve the problem by creating a monopoly” that would be the lowest bidder.
“The lowest bidder will likely be a large company which is already not able to provide consistent service.”
American Disposal has been the dominant hauler in the Cobb area, buying up smaller competitors in recent years. But it’s also been the subject of numerous customer complaints.
Wright said some of the feedback he’s received on his website is from citizens who’ve told him they’ve left American and wouldn’t want to be forced to use them again.
Wright has used Hugh’s Garbage Service for years, and says he’s very happy with it. When he traveled frequently on business, he arranged for his trash to be picked up inside his home.
“It cost a little more, but it was worth it,” he said.
Wright said he understands the intent of the code amendment but wishes the county had been informing and working with the trash haulers.
“It’s going to hurt some people and destroy some small businesses,” he said.
The East Cobb area is serviced by several private haulers, and the Acworth-based Trash Taxi recently entered the community providing trash and recycling services.
Cobb code amendments are updated twice a year, and the current proposals cover 10 areas of the ordinance:
Administration; building regulations; fire prevention and protection; licenses, permits and businesses; nuisances; parks and recreation; solid waste; streets, sidewalks and public places and zoning.
The Cobb Community Development Agency is coming back to commissioners to attempt to regulate AirBNB short-term rentals, especially AirBNBs (Chapter 78).
The proposed amendment would require a short-term rental certificate from the county business license office, a local agent to be available 24 hours a day and following occupancy and vehicle limits.
Commissioners will hold specific public hearings on the code amendments on Sept. 13 and Sept. 27, before voting on them on the latter date.
