KSHB 41 News reporter Braden Bates covers parts of Jackson County, Missouri, including Lee's Summit. He got this story from the city council agenda, following up on some concerns residents shared. Send Braden a story idea by e-mail.
The resident’s in Lee’s Summit will get to vote on whether or not they’ll stick with the 10 separate trash and waste service providers or go to one citywide provider.
The Lee’s Summit City Council voted 8-1 on Tuesday night to put the decision up for public vote.
The means it will be on the November 3 ballot.
Some residents shared their thoughts as the prospect of trash provider changes still remain up in the air.
"It does make a difference for us," said Marion Morris.
She and her husband live in a neighborhood just north of downtown Lee's Summit. Their neighbors all chose their own providers.
It's something the couple like about the area they live in.
"The streets are nice here. You know this is a nice neighborhood and we would like to keep it that way," Marion Morris said.
But Morris said her neighbors providers aren't always as careful with the trash as the service she hired.
"There have been multiple times where we have come through after them and picked up trash off the street," said Marion Morris.
With the mix of 10 haulers, there’s a diversity of choice with price, care and the services needed.
However, it comes with an influx of trucks in neighborhoods, something homeowners associations won’t have to deal with if the single trash service happens.
"Every HOA would have that option to be included or not," said Missy Barron, a Lee's Summit neighborhood HOA president.
Despite living in an HOA neighborhood, she said she understands the impact the trucks can have on the roads.
"We have some folks that you know live in neighborhoods that have multiple haulers every single day, different days, because everyone gets a choice and it’s taking a toll on their roads," said Barron.
It's a problem the public works department cites as one of the main reasons for the change.
"There are ten companies that service our residential trash in Lee’s Summit, and each one of those companies will have a truck for trash, a truck for recycling, a truck for yard waste and we can have a neighborhood with 30 trucks a week," Deputy Director of Public Works Mike Anderson said.
He said with the change there could be fewer trucks on the roads.
"I expect to see from the positives, of course with a contract, it would certainly reduce the number of trucks on the road and I just think that that’s safer all around," said Anderson.
Even with the road concerns the Kevin and Marion Morris are worried about the company that could take over their trash.
"How is the company being chosen? It can go to the ballot. Are they going to put all of the trash companies on the ballot? I doubt it," said Kevin Morris.
KSHB 41 took that question to Anderson. He said the city will use a Request for Proposal process to find the service they'll contract.
"They’ll submit their proposals," Anderson said. "You know, 'this is how we plan on meeting your customer service expectations. These are how we plan on meeting your service level expectations.' And then we would be able to kind of analyze those proposals."
Anderson said with the vote in November, the public works department will begin the RFP process.
This will give voters a clearer insight into which company could get the contract.
Despite a public vote, Anderson said the city council will still have the final say.
