ORDER-2020-20 : Amending Melrose Revised Ordinances Chapter 198-2 refuse receptacle(s) as set forth herein.

Transcript (~21 min @ 1:17:50)

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▶ 1:17:47 Francis X. Wright Jr.: thank you the third item on our agenda is autumn 2020-20 amending melrose revised ordinances chapter 198-2 refuse receptacles are set forth herein and sponsored by council zirko and

▶ 1:18:11 Michael P. Zwirko: Councillor McMaster thank you mr. chairman happy to talk again so this this this order actually showed up at the same time that we just discussed the last order there is I had some takeaways actually many more takeaways on this order than I did regarding polystyrene before I go in I just like my colleagues to some who supported the past order all right so what this seeks to do and I I will also add that trying to get items before the members here this evening, I also had the clerk of committees circulate in the same way I did with the last order, proposed changes for this. But essentially, over the past three or four years now in the spring, because we've had very mild winters and it seems that we're going to be on trend for further mild winters, have seen an uptick in various types of rodents and wildlife in the spring generally harsh winter is very harmful to offspring and it hasn't been the case so we have seen an uptick in rodents so to that I have also noticed on trash day in my neighborhood and throughout the city that bags of trash will just be left out on the curbside for pickup generally in the spring in the summer when it's warmer this is just open available for the taking so seeking to try to mitigate some of the instances with rodents that we've experienced I didn't think that it was too much of an ask to require that trash be placed in a receptacle for pickup previously when we spoke about this in October I noted that the trash can should be covered and securely fit but through discussion at that meeting there was some concerns raised by my colleagues about trash lids blowing away being thrown and strewn around the neighborhood so I understood that and I also was asked to do some additional research on our surrounding communities as to what ordinances may or may not exist for refuse being placed in a container whether covered or not I also have some of that information and what I will say is it does overwhelmingly trash for pickup is required to be in some sort of a receptacle those could be contingent on whether or not there is a specific type of recycling and trash reduction program in that municipality I for purposes of the request made by my colleagues I reviewed the communities of Medford Saugus Wakefield Malden Redding Winchester and Stoneham I figured that was a good enough bellwether because it does contain our surrounding communities I'll take the two easy ones first Stoneham has no ordinance regarding a container or a receptacle and it says quote bags must be closed and tied if not in barrels so that is their standard Winchester they have a transfer station as many folks may know so there's no need for a barrel there unless you want to put it in a barrel in your car reading states for a private receptacle and that placement of garbage and rubbish in receptacles is required Malden as folks may know they do have a pay-as-you-throw plan but they do ask and they define receptacles for their removal Wakefield states that each household is assigned a trash collection bin this was also brought up by a colleague at the meeting that we had in October there are some as I alluded to earlier some municipalities that have specific plans that also assign barrels in communities because they have certain type of trash removing trucks that actually have robotic arms etc so Wakefield is a little bit different Saugus was interesting although they did state the need for a container or a receptacle but they really just require that the Board of Health promulgate kind of any regulations there too and I couldn't find anything further what I did quote in this instance though was just the idea that it needs to be stored in a proper receptacle for no more than 24 hours and then Medford of course is actually very similar to Wakefield in the sense that they have a program where the city assigns the receptacle and it actually needs to be authorized by the Department of Public Works I will also add that the contract for trash services here in Melrose is up for renewal in 2021 which is probably anywhere between 12 to 18 as most 24 months so certainly there could be discussions about that but that was likely to be two springs from now so

▶ 1:23:28 Michael P. Zwirko: the the spirit of this order really was simply just to have trash bags removed from the curbside they're sitting there in the Sun they're sitting there all day sometimes overnight and it is just open game season for for rodents it's a it's a quality of a life issue it's something that we can do as residents to just place a bag in a receptacle and put it curbside my proposed amendments which I'll make sure after I hear from my colleagues is to address some of their concerns and some of their questions so I have asked that it be I've proposed that we remove the requirement that it be covered and I've also asked I've replaced language that allows for the trash to be placed on the curbside the night before I struck that previously and the only other change that I made is just to ensure that if trash is in a receptacle that it doesn't overflow so those were just some small changes that I made to the existing order in the hopes that we could get this to pass I just do think it's important that we just have trash bags in a proper receptacle like I said for folks that walk early in the morning either with their dog or with their son or daughter to school or even on their commute especially on some of those mornings in July where it's 85 degrees at 530 in the morning you have multiple bags of trash that generally contain food waste sitting in the Sun and it is just a quality of a life issue and it's another way that we can mitigate the growing rodent population in the city so with that that's my opening and I look forward to hearing more feedback from my colleagues thank you mr. chairman

▶ 1:25:12 Francis X. Wright Jr.: we would go to committee members first as this order is co-sponsored by councillor McMaster who is not a member of the committee I do want to entertain his comments before we go to committee members

▶ 1:25:25 Shawn M. MacMaster: thank you mr. chairman just very briefly I wanted to thank councillor Zwirko for filing this order I'm pleased to have the opportunity to sponsor it as chairman Wright said I'm a non-voting member but just a couple quick points I wanted to raise I agree that this is a quality of life issue as councilors work oh I said it's also a public health issue as I mentioned at the last meeting where trash serves as a food source for rats you know when bags are torn into it produces loose trash and debris. That makes its way into our stormwater sewer system. That then makes its way into our various waterways in the city, so it's a pollution issue as well. I think that this is a common sense order. There was one issue that was raised by Councillor Lipper-Garabedian at the last meeting about city barrels and if this would should apply to city barrels. I do think at some point we need to get there. I would like to give Mayor Broder and his administration an opportunity to see if we can address that through a policy change. Not quite sure that needs to be legislated. We'll see how perhaps different pickup times and schedules could potentially change, whether or not the administration is amenable after that. If this continues to be a problem on Main Street and some of our other main roadways that we might look to purchase alternative barrels well with covers, but I think for the purposes of addressing the concerns that both councilors work out and I have that we should begin with focusing on Residents and the barrels that they put out on the curbside and work collaboratively on a parallel track with the administration to see if we can address the concerns about barrels and overflowing trash on Main Street and other main roads. So I think that's all I have at this point. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

▶ 1:27:42 Speaker 6: Thank you, Councillor. Any members of the committee? Councillor Bewtra. Thank you.

▶ 1:27:54 Manisha Bewtra: City Council Abutra thank you I wanted to the one of my concerns is the under NMC the size of the container being no larger than 35 gallons so this afternoon I kind of think part of Grove Street had trash day today and then also took a look at the size of our own trash barrels at my home. A couple years ago we purchased 48 gallon trash barrels, which have wheels and they have a hinged lid, which have been very convenient to use. While I can, I mean, in terms of what any one household might produce from one week to the next, 35 gallons would probably likely more than cover it, maybe with the exception of Thanksgiving or whatever holiday might be coming up. The 48 gallon barrels are, or even 50 gallons, I was kind of looking, forgive me neighbors for peering on the lids of your trash barrels, but I even believe I saw one that said a 50 gallon barrel. And I don't believe that those are very uncommon in Melrose. So I think that's one of the concerns I have at this point I understand and appreciate the intent of the order my concern is one these are can be pretty pricey to replace on not to mention wasteful for folks who already have a barrel in place furthermore if we do decide to move forward with this I I would love to hear from the administration and kind of get better sense on timeline for how long something like this would take effect how it might affect folks with whatever existing barrels they may have that kind of thing and just sort of incidentally when i was earlier today trying to wrap my head

▶ 1:30:07 Manisha Bewtra: around what a 35 gallon barrel would look like i um i did a web search and discovered that in other parts of the country um which i mean i know we are working on trying to reduce waste so i'm not necessarily advocating for larger larger barrels um here but but that other communities in other parts of the country do have programs like right size your your can and and it's the minimum the smallest one is either 35 or 48 depending on the community and then they go up to like 96 gallons so um that was one of the things that pops out at me at this point um i understand uh why some of the edits were made although i think the watertight and having a cover were some of the things that made it uh stronger from the standpoint of rodent control but i also understand you know we're trying to find a a happy medium here um so that's my main concern at this point thank you thank you councilman any other comments

▶ 1:31:13 Francis X. Wright Jr.: councillor president i'm sorry president forbes thank you um i definitely appreciate the changes

▶ 1:31:17 Scott M. Forbes: that were made to the order uh i i think i'm kind of in in lockstep here with uh with councillor butrer about the size of the barrel then you're gonna get a lot of i don't say pushback but there'll be a little bit of resistance to the fact that i know that i have a 50 gallon barrel with a with a lid so if i end up getting a barrel and swap it out it may actually not be as good a quality as a of a product to keep rodents out that'd be the only thing that i can consider this everything else i i agree with the changes um i'm not sure if we're going to be at that point where we we have a vote on this this evening or not but i would be more in favor of increasing the size of the barrel i'm not sure if that's something that through the chair not something that would be something you'd be willing to entertain uh this evening or not but uh we can have that discussion thank you thank you council of brigade thank you chair wright i just um i'm

▶ 1:32:10 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: not a voting member of this body but i did want to just thank both of the sponsors for bringing this forward and the extra work that you put into it the research is really helpful so i'm really grateful to you for adding that to the record for us to hear about and i understand the changes that you've made or to try to hit the right balance um and you know while i think it's true that some of the um changes might um you know make it make the requirements a little less effective for rodents i still think they make it there's some way to address it there and it also does go to hold just the litter and the the quality of life point that you made because i think having things in a a receptacle as um you know assist with like wind issues and things getting strewn around during the um the week or at trash pickup day so those um i think that there's still value in this any

▶ 1:33:12 Michael P. Zwirko: other counselors for the first time councilor zorkov thank you mr chairman so um i just wanted to explain it and greatly appreciate the feedback you know not only the first time but also tonight on this I really enjoyed this is actually the stuff I like the most is working through these orders and trying to find a way to to make it happen but also still have some teeth and still be effective and I will also add that in the last two years I have learned way more about trash than I ever thought that I would learn about in this role and I found that I like trash don't quote that so the the reason for the 35 gallons just to give some perspective really was to try to hope in the whole you know zero wastes you know if you make a it's like roads right if you make more roads more people drive right so it's you know by having a smaller barrel hopefully we could also impact that but I hear you sometimes we have you know a really nasty fall and people like big trash cans to hold more you know yard waste and in the like I don't want people really the spirit of this is mainly quality of life and in rodent mitigation right so I don't want people to have to go home flip over their trash can and say geez I've got a 48 gallon trash can and now I'm in violation of this order I mean that's not really the spirit so if I have to amend to make it that's no larger than 51 gallons I'm happy to do so obviously hopeful with the spirit of all the work that's occurring in the community with trash reduction that it doesn't have to be 50 gallons you could have a smaller one right so so I understand that I will also say that it's obviously helpful that it be covered but it just seems so simple to me the trash be in a container and when I see on a trash day that trash isn't in a container I just I get so frustrated because it just you're just seeing bags of trash on the ground so if it doesn't have a cover that's okay I agree that it won't be as effective as a mitigator to the the road rodent populations but certainly it's going to be a deterrent which right now we don't even have that then the the final thing I will say is you know this this ordinance really came to be during a a transition of a DPW director so feedback from the city was scant if if at all and I think that now with these changes I think if we were to amend this order further and request that we receive some feedback not only from our interim director but also the new administration that wouldn't be a detriment to the hopeful future passage of this and I'm happy to even work further on this but I think right now it's it's it's it's in a really good spot that at least gets us over where we want to be which is just put your trash in a container for a whole host of reasons I will also add in this this isn't in this ordinance but it's just something to think about going forward which I thought was really pragmatic on a lot of the communities that I researched was that in terms of a penalty if you don't recycle they don't pick up your trash some communities and I fail to say that I don't know if we do that here in Melrose but it's a really good belt and suspender approach right and I would also add that in addition to you know a fine structure if your trash isn't in a container maybe we don't pick it up that's one way to help police the problem because you know we when we went through some improving of recycling practices here in the community we did some this is at the time when we had a recycling coordinator we did some recycling audits and those proved very very effective and we could do the same here so I just just wanted to put that out there I have spoken this is my second time and so at this time I would like to just move to amend the ordinance what I would like to do is I would like to move to amend it as proposed which was written although I'm making one small change which is I'm striking 35 gallons and making it 51 so what is before you are proposed amendments to section C D and E as we've discussed this evening so I would move that we further amend the order as outlined

▶ 1:37:34 Francis X. Wright Jr.: second the motion to amend the order has set forth by councilors work I was seconded by president forbes all members of the committee in favor of this amendment say aye aye opposed you guys have it the order is so amended on the order as amended is there any more

▶ 1:37:55 Michael P. Zwirko: discussion thank you mr chairman i was just going to state at this time because i would like to have some feedback on this ordinance before we move forward i would just ask or move rather that

▶ 1:38:07 Francis X. Wright Jr.: this order to be held in committee councilor Zwirko has moved that we hold this matter in committee to allow the administration and the dpw um to further comment on it all in favor aye aye opposed the item will be held in committee no other items on the agenda for the legal and legislative committee do we have a motion to adjourn so moved motion to adjourn all in favor