As the Fishers City Council meeting was winding down Monday night, Council President John Weingardt asked if there was any unfinished or new business for the Council to consider.  Councilor David Giffel spoke up.  He talked about how high his trash collection bill has become.

Council Member Giffel wants the city to pursue a contract with a trash collection company to lower the costs for city residents.  That immediately brought back memories from 2013.

Giffel was chosen by a caucus of Republican precinct officials to succeed David George upon Mr. George’s decision to resign his council post.  It was David George that had the idea in 2013 to take bids on one trash collector for the city.

The bids were issued and the lowest bidder was Republic, with a plan that would have cost families in Fishers $9-$10 a month to collect the trash each week.  That would have resulted in major savings for most people in Fishers.

Then a public forum was held.  I could not attend so I asked a good friend of mine and a veteran of reporting on local meetings to cover the event.  It packed the old Town Hall council chambers.

The consensus of those at the meeting was this – the city should not tell local residents which trash collection company to use.  Any effort to do so was seen as some sort of government overreach.  The cost savings did not seem important at that meeting.

Scott Fadness, then the Fishers Town Manager, was attacked as a “Communist” by some.  Pete Peterson recalled this as the most aggressive opposition to anything he has experienced on the Town or City Council.

Responding to Councilman Giffel’s remarks Monday night, Mayor Fadness said he would setup a work session to explain the long and extensive process to formulate the bidding process, take bids, take public comment and other legal steps required to award a contract to one trash company.

Councilor Brad DeReamer made clear he is against any effort by the city to contract with one trash collection provider.

As things stand now, Waste Management and Republic are the only two trash collection companies operating in Fishers.

For those Council members that were part of the Town Council in 2013, and for Scott Fadness as Town Manager at that time, there seems to be little interest in trying the process on trash collection again.  But, the mayor at least committed to holding a work session with the council to lay out the process of taking city-wide trash collection bids.

Many cities in our area have trash collection contracts with companies to handle trash duties within their city limits.  There is also the issue of handling Homeowners Associations (HOAs) with contracts already in place with one trash collection firm.

Another added issue relates to recycling and how that would or would not be addressed in any bidding process.  Hamilton County does have a recycling facility in Noblesville near the county fairgrounds available to all county residents, but a recycling option closer to home would be an issue in any city-wide contract.

Will the City of Fishers once again look to enact a city-wide trash collection service contract?  Time will tell.