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Florissant Moving Closer to a Single Trash Hauler Service
BY CAROL ARNETT
The City of Florissant is moving closer to having only one trash hauler service the city. The city council met with Charles Barcom of Meridian Waste at the council’s open executive session last week.
Councilman Tim Lee has been working on getting the single hauler in place. He said that the single hauler would be in effect 120 days after the city signs a contract with the hauler. “I’d like to do it as soon as possible,” he said. He told the council that the mayor and city had satisfied residents’ concerns regarding the single hauler system.
Councilman Keith English said that he was concerned because St. Louis County is currently engaged in a lawsuit because of their efforts to go to a single hauler. He suggested that the council table any action until the county lawsuit was resolved.
The council asked City Attorney John Hessel for his opinion. Hessel said the lawsuit in the county focuses on the fact that the county did not give two years notice to haulers. “There were other issues,” he said, “but the court of appeals focused on the two year notice.”
Councilwoman Karen McKay noted that the city had satisfied the two year requirements.
Barcom told the council that Meridian had become the city of Wildwood’s single hauler ten months ago. At that point, they provided a customer service agent in city hall to answer any questions or concerns. Barcom said he would do the same thing in Florissant. In Wildwood, he said, the person stayed at city hall for four weeks. At that point, Barcom said, there was no need for a person at city hall and customer service questions were handled from Meridian’s offices.
“We already have 6,500 customers in the city,” Barcom said. He said Meridian was familiar with the city and had a good reputation for customer service.
The council held a first reading on a bill that would allow the city to award an exclusive agreement to a single company for trash hauling.
In other matters, the council:
o heard from several residents concerned about crime, and several more who are still fighting with the Metropolitan Sewer District about recent flooding in the city.
o Honored James Hessel for his work organizing a recent clean-up of Coldwater Creek.
o Passed a bill authorizing the final payment of $17,000 for the St. Ferdinand Archeological Dig.
