Residential trash pickups in Hennessey could be reduced from twice-a-week to once-a-week, but customers would get an added monthly curbside pickup of “bulky waste” (mattresses, household appliances, carpets, furniture, etc.).

That’s what the town’s sanitation provider, Waste Connections Inc., proposed to the town board at its Thursday night meeting.

“We’ve had twice-a-week service for as long as I can remember,” said Mayor Bert Gritz.

“Out-of-town customers have once-a-week service,” said Trustee Keith Meek, “and they make it work.”

“We could keep the same rates for home customers,” said Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman.

Home customers could get a second poly cart for $6 a month, said Brittany LeMoine, territory manager for Waste Connections.

“The benefit is the bulk pickups once a month,” said Kyle Kornele, district manager of Waste Connection’s Meno landfill. He said they’d pick up half the town one day and the other half the next day. They’ll also provide new blue poly carts and dumpsters, and cutting back on the weekly pickups would save on trash trucks damaging streets and roads, Kornele said.

There are many people who are unable to get their unwanted items to the dump site, but they can get them to the curb, LeMoine said. Those monthly pickups would avoid having mattresses dumped out in the country, she said.

Twice-a-week commercial customers would continue, according to the company’s handout.

Dump needs to close

The company came up with the plan after Tillman told them the town’s need to close its dump.

Tillman said she asked board members to look at the dump site before the meeting.

“Did you look at it?” she asked. “I cringe every time I see it!”

“It is a mess,” said Gritz.

“I honestly think we’re in violation,” Tillman said. “I don’t want us to get fined.”

Trustee Wes Hardin suggested they burn it off, but was told they couldn’t do that. “Why not?” he asked. “You mean a farmer can burn a hundred acres of wheat, but we can’t burn it off?”

Town lost $18,000

“We need to get it closed,” said Tillman. … We lost $18,000 last year and that’s with the county paying half of the $22,500 for the roll offs.”

Kornele said that probably only 30% of the people in town use the dump and its 70% of others in the area, “or even in another county.”

Some towns, such as Kingfisher, are “really strict” about who can dump, and have “very limited” dump times, Tillman said.

“Make us a better deal?”

“You guys are doing a helluva job,” said Hardin, “and I know you have people you have to answer to, but can you make us a better deal?”

Kornele said the company has been providing the service in Hennessey for 20 years or more, “and it’s already pretty low for us. We can discuss it but it’s pretty close to where we need to be.”

“We’ve got people here who are unemployed and struggling,” said Hardin. Kornele said they’ve kept the price the same, but the town has grown with more households over the years “and we are going to bring in brand new blue poly carts and dumpsters.”

Gritz and others on the board agreed that the company has done an extremely good job for the town.

Town will survey customers

Gritz said, “If we’re losing $18,000 a year, then paying $15 to provide the service and only charging our customers $15.45, then we need to charge more to break even for our costs.”

He asked Tillman to get costs of what other towns in the area with comparable size are charging and report back next month.

When he asked board members what they thought customers would think about the proposal, Hardin said, “I know what they’ll say: they’ll want the same service they have.”

Gritz asked the audience.

You can already see the trash carts overflowing on some streets, said one visitor.

Gritz also suggested that the community be asked what they thought of the new proposal, and told Tillman to come up with a survey.

All members of the board were present: Vice Mayor Clif Vogt, Richard Simunek, Gritz, Hardin and Meek.