Piqua to Reconsider Trash Collection Tonight
A difficult situation just became demonstrably worse.
Last week, after months of public conversation and numerous meetings, the Piqua City Commission, took a difficult vote and decided by a 3-2 margin to have trash collection done in-house rather than to go through an outside provider.
This publication went to lengths to discuss this decision, detailing what went into the final analysis and how the decision played out. The decision was not an easy one the City Commission to make and there were legitimate and cogent arguments on both sides.
In the end, the Commission made their decision. And from that decision, more hard choices have to be made. Keeping the trash collection in house is not a cheap endeavor and tonight the City Commission will be talking about raising rates for trash collection; again, this publication detailed the background of this decision.
Care, Loyalty and Obedience
One of the foundations of good local governance is that there is a duty of care, loyalty and obedience to the citizens of the community by those in serving in local government. Everyone in local government, from the beat cop, the meter reader to those who sit behind desks for living, have a duty to put the care of the community first and foremost; decisions must benefit the city, as an organization, and it’s residents. This is sometimes a challenging principle to enforce, becuase the needs of the city as an organization and the needs of the residents are often at odds. And that is why we have elected officials to guide and make decisions; they bridge the desires of the organization with the needs of the community.
There is also the duty of loyalty. This duty ensures that local government staff and elected officials are loyal to the community they are serving, and not loyal to outside interests. Most conflict of ethics laws on the book help buttress this concept of duty of loyalty. The wages earned by those in local government are paid for by the taxpayer, by the community at-large. Those paying the frieght deserve the best efforts of those providing service to the community. When government contractors start to incentivize government officials through bribes, kickbacks and other ill-gotten compensation, it tests the loyalty of those serving the public. That is generally why such back door arragements are illegal, and certainly unethical.
Finally, there is the duty of obedience. In the charter form of local government, the decision made by the Commission or Council, is the decision that needs to be followed and respected. The Commission, speaking on behalf of the citizens, are there to guide and lead the city, not only as a community, but as an organizational entity. The decisions of the Commission demand and require obedience from everyone within the organization.
What Will Happen Tonight?
It’s with that back drop of the duties of care, loyalty and obedience, that there needs to be a more robust public discussion of what exactly is being discussed tonight at the Piqua City Commission meeting.
From the agenda, we can see one ordinance and two resolutions that will be discussed regarding trash disposal. The first, is an ordinance to change the trash collection rates. This measure is not a surprise. The Community, spoke through the Commission last week. The community made it clear that they want to have the City, not an outside provider, collect trash. The city staff was clear, that is a possible, but not inexpensive endeavor. The Commission will undertake a discussion on increase these rates; it’s a rational and responsible response to last week’s decision.
Yet, there is also a resolution that appears to be added to the agenda, that, at least by title, is the same exact resolution that the Commission rejected last week, a resolution that would contract waste removal services to an outside vendor. It’s at this point, where the community needs to have a frank and open discussion about the concepts of duty, care and loyalty.
Last week’s controversial decision came after months of discussions, meetings and analysis. It was not a decision that was arrived at lightly or without real investment of time and energy. And now, there is an attempt to re-visit that decision? Why?
The City Commission needs to have a clear understanding of why they are being asked to relitigate this decision and in all honesty, bringing this item for a vote a mere week after the decision was made is not the proper way to do this.
If the City Commission wants to do a post-mortem on their discussion, that is commendable. There are plenty of opportunities to the City Commission to meet in a non-voting workshop session to talk about the decision they made with City Staff and explore if the decision needs reconsidered. To simply put this resolution back on the agenda at this meeting is inviting legislative chaos into the Commission Chambers.
In the future, there is going to be a City Commissioner that will find themselves on the losing side of a close vote. What is going to prevent that City Commissioner from putting that item on the very next meeting’s agenda for reconsideration? The entire legislative process could easily turn into unproductive meetings of reconsidering items that have already been decided. Regardless, this makes the concept of the duties of care, loyalty and obedience seem almost optional; we will only be obedient to decisions we like, if there is a decision we don’t like, we will simply ask the powers-that-be to reconsider. In othe words, nothing is concrete, every decision is fluid. This is not a good look for any organization or local government.
Bureaucrats Love Bureaucracy
Perhaps the most puzzling piece of legislation being proposed tonight is the creation of an “open vendor citizen selected” program for trash removal. In other words, this resolution will allow city staff to create a program where residents will select their own vendors for trash removal.
And while on the face, this might sound like a good idea, residents will need to understand that there will undoubtedly be a new selection and licensing process to allow certain vendors in the community, while keeping other vendors out. In other words, efforts will be made to keep the two guys with a rusty pick-up truck out of the waste hauling business in the city.
Potential vendors will undoubtedly need a license, granted by the city, in order to pick up trash. Requirements for equipment, insurance certificates, driver credentials will undoubtedly be addressed in rules that have yet to be written. Licensees will also need to adhere to standards on certain dates and times to pick up garbage and determine how large pick up items will be handled.
All of this turns into a bureaucratic mess, which will require more bureaucratic work to help solve. Which in turn, could easily mean higher rates or taxes for residents of the community. In other words, this solution looks like it could cause more problems than it claims to solve.
In the end, the Commission made a decision and the Commission will be asked to increase trash collection rates tonight. If the rate hike goes through, the other resolutions are simply not necessary.
If the Commission decides not to increase the rates tonight, the Commission, with staff, will need to have further conversations on which route makes the best sense for the community. And that path forward is best discovered in an open and frank conversation in a workshop type setting. Simply throwing resolutions at the City Commission at the next available moment to reconsider a decision isn’t helpful. It’s not helpful for the Commission and it is certainly not helpful to the residents.
The whole premise of this effort, Civic Capacity, is to inform residents and citizens about the things happening in their hometowns and to advocate for better processes and procedures that bring those citizens closer, not farther way, from the decision making process. In the end, it’s citizens, either through taxes or user fees, that pay for these decisions, their voices matter.
The City Commission has decisions to make tonight. They can raise rates, that is a legitimate action to take knowing that in-house trash collection is an expensive endeavor. Or, if they decline to raise rates, they can have a future session to have a better discussion about private-sector delivery of the service.
And in their decision, the City Commission is best advised to think about the care, loyalty and obedience the city staff has towards them and the commission has towards the community.
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