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C, <br />• <br />• <br />FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES _4_ <br />January 26, 2005 <br />Organized Refuse Collection (continued) <br />Why did the City spend the money to mail a report to the single family homes in the City? <br />Mayor Gehrz said that one of the roles of the Solid Waste Commission is public education. <br />Information gathered in the study and the work with the haulers is important for the residents <br />to use in making individual decisions about hauler selection or forming their opinion on whether <br />the City should adopt an organized collection. It is unfair to expect people to tell the City their <br />opinions without giving them information that would be useful in forming those opinions. <br />Why were residents asked to take some time to send the City their opinions, concerns and <br />questions about how waste is collected? Mayor Gehrz said this was done because the City cares <br />what its residents think. When the City Council last considered organized collection, there was <br />not a very effective public input process. Notice of the public hearing was posted and sent to the <br />haulers, but the City did not send letters to every resident about it. This process has been much <br />better. The Council said, at every decision point, that it wanted to gather information through a <br />study, get that information into the hands of the residents, and get their response to a possible <br />change in the system of collecting trash in Falcon Heights. That is exactly what was done. <br />Citizen input results <br />What did the City Council learn from the citizen input period? <br />• Total households 1 199 <br />Households responding <br />responding <br />Of the 356 households responding: <br />• Oppose organized collection <br />• Support organized collection <br />• Neutral or indeterminate <br />Reasons for opposing organized refuse collection: <br />• Desire to maintain choice <br />• Satisfied with service <br />• No need for any change <br />• Oppose government involvement <br />• Maintain open markets <br />• Potential cost increase <br />• Concern for small haulers <br />• Like their hauler <br />• City staff resources <br />• Other <br />356 <br />30% <br />287 (81 %) <br />60 (17%) <br />9 <br />48% <br />28% <br />21% <br />13% <br />12% <br />6% <br />6% <br />4% <br />3% <br />5% <br />S <br />