We pay 8x more for the library than to clean up our own trash (taken from that city newsletter we all get). Something is wrong with that picture. Or maybe we're all just that disgusting. Basically, we need mass education because people are still failing to realize that all the trash they create (mostly unnecessarily) GOES SOMEWHERE. Crazy idea, huh. We need to create less trash as well as manage it more effectively. Everyone just has to have something to complain about though, huh?

"The new hours STINK. I work M-F 8-5, and most Saturdays 8-12. So we have to cater to the minority- contractors and seniors? What about us residents who work and just want to drop off some lawn clippings every once in awhile?"

Well JoeSchmo, I can answer your questions. Many businesses have similar hours, dentists, doctors, auto service places, etc. Did your dentist put on a night shift for your convenience? Do you have vacation time? If so, perhaps you could take some vacation hours to take your lawn clippings to the compost site "every once in a while".

Another alternative might be a little more econmically and enviromentally friendly. You could leave the lawn clippings on your lawn, this is mother nature's fertilizer. Cut down on gasoline used to delivery lawn clippings, cut down on fertilizer use on your lawn because you are taking the clippings away causing the lawn to actually need fertilizer.

Another option might be to start your own compost pile, eliminating these costly trips to the site. You can thereby make your own fertilizer, put all your organic wastes into the compost, cut down on what goes to the landfill as garbage, all kinds of good stuff there.

There are alternatives to depending on the government for your every little need and then complaing when you have to pay for it or complaining that it is not custom tailored to your particular needs.

"woody
That smell at the dump is methane gas, and that big blue flame is it being burnt of so it does not become a uncontrolled volume."

No Pete, the smell is not methane gas as you say. Methane gas has no odor. The smell is rotting trash and garbage. That is why they have skilled heavy equipment operators working at the landfill all day long covering up the garbage as it comes it.

They are extracting the methane and burning it in engines that drive electrical generators to generate electricity. You call this some kind of "special interest" conspiracy or something. It is the most practical way to utilize this resource and a succesfull one at that.

This thread is long on bs retoric and short on facts. That must make it easy for some.

The new hours STINK. I work M-F 8-5, and most Saturdays 8-12. So we have to cater to the minority- contractors and seniors? What about us residents who work and just want to drop off some lawn clippings every once in awhile?

Our current trash collecter is SO picky and often leaves garbage on our curb, still haven't figured out why. Also, we have a family of 4 and have more than 1 bag of trash per week. If we had 4 bags, that's over $200/yr if we had to pay $1.50 for each additional bag. My 85 year old single neighbor has 3 bags of trash every week!

I agree, lets not mess with city services such as trash pickup. Janesville already stinks from the dump, let's not make it worse!

“Residents don’t pay for their trash pickup now. Rather, it is paid for through sanitation funds supported by out-of-county haulers.” There are no quote marks on this pontification in the article. Is this Nelesen’s voice? Is this the city manager’s voice spoken through Nelesen? Is this conjecture by the collective council or perhaps just one member and relayed by Nelesen? Whose voice is this?

And secondly, why does whose ever opinion this actually is, do they assume we do not already pay for trash pick up? Perhaps if we are hit with these potential new fees, I should whack a few bucks off my check when I go into pay for my property taxes then. Or, perhaps I could hold back a few bucks from that quarterly bill I get from the good city for various services.

Regardless of whose opinion this really is, it is obfuscation ad nauseam. How stupid do all the above mentioned parties think we really are anyway? Nod to Hannah and Tex who have picked up (no pun intended) on this “Residents don’t pay” rubric as well.

Finally, this “Residents don’t pay” crap is the same obfuscated construct that has parents paying through the nose for activities and supplies in public school that used to be covered by taxes while still paying those taxes higher than ever. With incremental Soviet-esque logic like we are currently being nickeled and dimed with, especially in these economically bankrupt times, we are all, oh so screwed.

Bob Keith
– humble and obedient citizen -

"You would think they could hook a generator up and at least make electricity."

They have been generating electricity from methane at the landfill for several years. What planet are some of you people on?

tex- here it is again. I want to know this answer too!!!

""Sanitation – Encompasses trash and recycling collection and disposal programs, including waste, tire and
appliance recycling, management of sanitary and demolition landfills and compost facility and twice-yearly yard
waste collection. Program costs are also paid for by user fees, such as sanitary landfill and drop-off fees. $13.13 $1.09"

According to the Janesville news letter we get each year we do pay for sanitation. Please explain.

It is private pick-up where we live, around $150 yr. They supply the bins for trash and recycle and replace them for no cost. If you have something large, you call that week and there is no extra charges. No more calling city hall when the city workers will not pick up anything that is deemed too heavy.

babalooone- not sure where youre from but we may pay more taxes here. As I stated before they say we dont pay in our taxes but the chart from the park place news say we do.

Nobody has answered this question yet about this.

"Other options to be studied include scheduling trash pickup every other week or putting bags on one side of the street."

I vote for bags on the one side of the street. I can't think of any future problems with this money saving idea. Good thinking.

We get one trash bag a week. If you have more you put a sticker on the rest of the bags. They are $1.50 each. We have recycling bins. We also have a compost area that you can drop stuff off at 3x a week. A big item trash day once a year. So I get a chuckle reading your complaints!!

The city picks up residential trash for rental properties up to four units. How will someone be able to tell how many bags a renter put out to the curb if everyone piles their trash up together? Maybe the new hours will be confusing to sub-contractors, young people and those who work first shift. When our glorious leaders think outside the box they think WAY outside the box. Like they're in outer space.

Talk about the smell? The smell of them burning the garbage gas is sickening after a while. Is there a way Janesville can make money while burning the gas? You would think they could hook a generator up and at least make electricity.

The landfill need to stay in city run hands. The last thing I want to do is start supporting corp. and shareholder earning with my money. The city should run at the cost of operation not that plus a profit for shareholders. People think services will be cheaper if run by private industry. Sorry that will not be the case.

Get the city out of trash pickup, go to private contractors & let them collect for pickup.

Maybe they can help shovel walks if they get done early.

Hanna I don't wany my neighbors wine bottles making me look bad!

Just an idea. Why not this. Going to landfill myself alot, these hours won't work for me to well. Why not look at the option of having an open pit. Put up a security camera system that overviews what people are dumping. Open from dusk to dawn just like a park. Anyone that really wants to dump something thats illegal is gonna do it somewhere else anyway. Why not completly get rid of the employee sitting at the office, thats suppose to see what you dump out of your truck. I have seen it before where peopel dump garbage there, and the guy 1,500 feet away don't see. They stay nice and tight in there cozy little shed. I see no reason to have anyone sitting there babysitting to make sure we put the grass in the compost area, and the brush, logs, and concrete in the bottom. We can manage with a few signs, camera system etc...

BostonBill, these are tough times, and we need a clean, well run city. I think the money spent on a hockey rink is superfluous. I have been consistent on that viewpoint. City government should focus on meeting basic city services. Let the private sector take care of risk taking ventures.
*
I wrote demi-pro with the intention of meaning something less than semi-pro. It is a prefix that means small, partly, or less than half. It was a half baked idea that the council bought into when it has full sized problems it should be dealing with: to wit, trash, snow and public safety.
*
Thanks for the civil response. In retrospect, my comment to your rhetorical question was less than civil.

Allow people to pay $10 a day to go garbage pick through the dump. One person trash is another's treasures-- if they can stand the stench!!!

Are our public works employees so specialized that they can't do any other work when their trash route is done? Give me (and all taxpayers) a break.

MooShoo, (I hope I spelled that correctly), it was a rhetorical question. Janesville is trying to survive by reinventing itself and although the powers that be do not always make the correct decisions, I believe they are trying. Sometimes money must be spent in order to make money. That may be a simplistic explanation but it is basic economics and it got the USA out of the “other” Great Depression. Anyways, to answer your question, “How do you spell D-U-H.”, probably close to your spelling. Good job. Now, may I ask, what is a, “demi-pro hockey venue”?
Have a nice evening.

muzzy...."an industry standard"

An industry standard? This isn't an "industry" we are talking about. It's public works employees on the taxpayers dime. Tony Soprano isn't our city mamager.

If that's the case...then I say if they get paid for eight then work eight. There is plenty of work that needs to be done.

trash collection isn't paid as "piece work."

Johndoe, it's an industry standard. Rewarding for efficiency. Not to mention, less hours on the truck and fuel costs.

Yes bostonbill, it is mandatory. Would you rather your tax dollars went to a beer swilling demi-pro hockey venue for a few hundred city residents, or trash pick-up for the entire city of 60,000. How do you spell D-U-H.

Perhaps someone in the know...possibly a Janesville council person...can answer this question.

Is it correct that as it currently stands, a trash collector can go home whenever his or her route is completed...regardless of the number of hours put in that day?

In other words...if they complete their route at 1:00 PM they are done for the day...but get paid for a full eight hours...correct?...or not?

Just wondering: Is it mandatory in these blogs to always include a comment about the, "$1.1 Million Ice Rink"?

I will never be able to utilize the compost site Monday thru Friday. They will be opened for seven hours on four days, and for seven and a half hours on the fifth day. That adds up to thirty five and a half hours. On Saturday, they will be open for five hours. This brings the weekly total to forty and a half hours. I have no clue as to what the pay for city employees is, but do they have to work forty hours before time and a half kicks in, or is Saturday all time and a half. My work hours are from 6:45a.m. to 3:15p.m., I have a thirty minute unpaid lunch, this gives me forty hours in the Monday thru Friday time frame. I would venture to say most full time employed workers work forty hours Monday thru Friday. With that said this will give me a fifteen minute window to allow for driving and make it to the compost site on time. Now can anyone imagine the wait time that is going to happen on Saturday? You will have to arrive at 6:00a.m., no matter what, you wait! This is just wrong as during the grass cutting season most lawns do not get cut before 8:00a.m.

There is a landfill in the next county(15 miles to the east)that would love to compete with the Janesville landfill rates(tipping fees). My understanding is that Janesville's are about half. Surely there is some way to increase revenue, yet remain affordable....hmmm let me think.

City services or the lack thereof are highly visible. You make it hard to dispose trash, and the entire city will look like a wind-swept landfill. This is not the area in which the Council should be trying to earn a few extra bucks, or cut service. The last thing I want to see is trash piling up on my unplowed street.

I guess i will just have to dump my stuff at the gate and let the guys clean it up when they get to work. Now thats job security at its best!!!

How are "stickers" going to save us money? Somebody has to print those stickers.. limit us to three bags..what size bags.. how many pizza boxes (which can not be recycled) included in that...are we then going away from trash cans?... who's going to be responsible for the trash bags ripped open by the squirrels and raccoons in my area ( don't tell me that one, the same people who are required to pick up anything the garbage guy drops on the ground - us)

Quote-He suggested opening later to stay open later on some days, but John Whitcomb, operations director, said that could be confusing to contractors and seniors who use the facility early in the morning.
The answer is simple - one weekday and Saturday STAY OPEN LATER!! For crying out loud, IT'S THE COMPOST HEAP! There's only ONE guy there! At a point in time where the old Janesville mantra "take it to the dump" ( something I've heard for the twenty years I've managed to survive living here when asking Public works about anything) You guys now want to limit the time we CAN take it to the dump!
Please tell me where you guys are getting whatever it is your smoking down there!

"Other options to be studied include scheduling trash pickup every other week or putting bags on one side of the street."

every other week seems like good option to me. it seems to work for recyclables.
put it on only one side of the street. Sorry I dont want somebody else's nasty pile of stuff on my curb. What if it isnt taken. WHO gets to get rid of it. Probably not the guy that put the nasty stuff there in the first place.

i keep hearing council state that our taxes do not cover trash pick up. They state sanitation is only part of the taxes we pay for in our taxes. It clearly states here that trash and recycle pick up is in this money. This is from winter park place news. I would like to know what "collection" you are speaking of if it is isnt off our front terrace!!!!

"Sanitation – Encompasses trash and recycling collection and disposal programs, including waste, tire and
appliance recycling, management of sanitary and demolition landfills and compost facility and twice-yearly yard
waste collection. Program costs are also paid for by user fees, such as sanitary landfill and drop-off fees. $13.13 $1.09

"The discussion came during a budget study session, with staff estimating the landfill is operating at a $1.2 million deficit this year. If the trend continues, it will have about $200,000 in reserve by the end of 2010."

this is just as confusing. If you have a deficit and think the TREND will continue HOW to you end up with extra money???

yes what would be so confusing about the hours? The only thing confusing to me as well is how do WORKING people bet to go here!!

I find it interesting that altho we don't want to "confuse contractors and seniors", we have no problem setting times that working people can't use.

As for confusing anyone....they can look at their watches the same way I do when I need to go. I have the schedule posted in my garage and I can see if they are open or not...and make my plans accordingly.

Why can't a contractor or a senior do the same thing?

Here's an idea, only allow trash in the dump from janesville and you could cut the staff at the dump in half. Counties that are two counties away are hauling there trash here. Yes you are going to run out of space. Lets invite others to haul there trash here so when we run out we can pay out of the a__ to haul somewhere else.

I’ve done the “put stickers on your garbage” thing before. Absolutely everybody who has used that system hates it. Raise assessments if necessary, but keep the stinkin’ stickers!