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Liberty Township trash hauler to offer senior-citizen discount
The lower rate will not apply to apartment-dwellers.
LIBERTY — A contract appointing a single trash hauler for the township will now include some special provisions for senior citizens.
Trustee Jodi Stoyak said Allied Waste of Youngstown, the trash hauler recently awarded the township contract, will offer a 10 percent discount to customers who are 65 years old and up.
The lack of a senior discount was a point of contention for many residents before the contract was accepted. The company at first suggested that seniors pay for their trash pickup by the bag, but then changed that to include the newly announced discount.
Many residents also showed concern about the inability of seniors and the disabled to handle the large recycle bins being supplied by Allied Waste. Brent Bowker, general manager of Allied Waste, said the company would pick up trash from near the house for those residents for an additional monthly fee.
According to Stoyak, a senior discount had been discussed before the contract with Allied Waste had been accepted, but, because it was not part of the official bid process, the discount provision could not be made final until after the official contract had been accepted.
“[Bowker] mentioned doing this during the meetings we had with the public, but he could not officially announce that he would do it until after the bid was voted on,” she said. “When you have an official bid, you cannot just go in and change things in it.”
Township Administrator Pat Ungaro said now that the contract has been signed, both sides can agree to add a provision for senior citizens. He said the company has gone “above and beyond the call of duty” in accepting the change.
Bowker said the change was a good-will gesture and an attempt to meet the needs of all township residents.
“There was definitely a public outcry. [Senior citizens] felt like that definitely should have been included in the contract, and I think not including it was simply an oversight. I just wanted to meet their needs too and make everybody happy,” he said.
Stoyak said Allied Waste has a list of the 4,700 residents who will likely need trash hauling services and will be sending a letter to those individuals detailing the program — including the new senior discounts. The list does not include residents living in apartments and those who have not purchased trash-hauling services in the past.
The township had advertised for bids for trash pickup over several weeks, and Allied Waste was the only company to submit a bid. Allied Waste will provide the service for a monthly charge of $15.43 per resident for weekly trash collection. The company will collect recyclable items for free.
Residents will have an option of paying for trash collection by the bag. The price for by-the-bag collection will be $2 per bag. Allied has also agreed to collect trash from all township-owned facilities free of charge — a savings to the township of about $11,000 annually.
The rate accepted from Allied Waste will be fixed for the next three years.
The contract means that Liberty residents cannot use any other trash hauler.
jgoodwin@vindy.com