By Glenn Rolfe

SEAFORD — Trash talk has surfaced, as the mayor and City Council heard a pitch from Public Works director Berley Mears in which the city would oversee residential refuse collection through a single contracted vendor.

During a public hearing Tuesday, Mr. Mears outlined the plan.

“We don’t go out and buy trash trucks. We put it out to bid. Contractors bid on it. Then, we administer the trash contract,” he said. “The thought behind it is, we could administer a program where trash service is guaranteed to pick up weekly at every parcel. Homes and the city would be in a better condition on a weekly basis.”

City Manager Charles Anderson added, “We would not be hiring additional people and buying trucks.”

Currently, Seaford residence owners obtain their own trash-collection vendor.

Mayor David Genshaw said the discussion may be somewhat premature.

“It is something that is being discussed. It is something that has been talked about for many years. I think it is a conversation that we need to have one way or the other and get feedback on what is important to residents, what works, what doesn’t work,” he said. “We do know that cleanup week has gotten out of hand for the city to maintain, and we do need to make changes one way or another going forward.”

Each spring, the city schedules a week of cleanup to improve its appearance, during which Public Works hauls away residents’ unwanted materials for free.

The city’s budget includes $20,000 for its cleanup week. Mr. Mears said that event requires about 600 hours and uses staff from other departments. One drawback to it, he said, is that cleanup week is abused — out-of-town refuse is brought into Seaford, and there is “no way to police it.”

To compare prices for trash pickup, townwide service in Georgetown and Laurel were discussed.

Georgetown charges $68 per quarter, or $22.67 a month. Laurel’s trash fee is $33 monthly. In those towns, customers receive one trash container for weekly collection and one recycle container for biweekly pickup.

“In Georgetown, they included leaf-and-limb pickup and also allow one bulk item a week,” said Mr. Mears, adding that Laurel’s service is basically the same but a bit more costly.

A consolidated trash service would free up Public Works employees utilized for limb-and-leaf pickup and the cleanup week.

Mr. Mears said Public Works has been down an employee for about a year, leaving six employees working 240 hours a week.

Just picking up leaves and limbs accounts for about 104 hours weekly or 37% of departmental time, he said. “It’s a great service. Our customers love it, but it is a drain on our current setup.”

If factoring in time to run a street sweeper, Public Works is down to about 56 hours for other tasks that include the water and sanitary systems.

Councilman/Vice Mayor Dan Henderson offered a pro and con.

“With a single vendor, you are going to have fewer 40,000-pound trash trucks going up and down the streets that aren’t made for those trucks really. It puts a lot of wear and tear on the streets,” he said. “The con is you are going to be relying on a single vendor to perform.”

Public comment included concern about those on fixed incomes, such as retirees and senior citizens, who may combine their trash with their neighbor’s for one pickup.

Mr. Mears said there are other options to consider, including placing dumpsters at designated locations.

Should city leaders opt to go the single-contractor route, officials would get a price for residential units. Payment would likely be on a monthly or quarterly basis.

“We would work that out, whatever the cash flow issue was with the contractor,” said Mr. Anderson. “We bill our customers currently for water, sewer, electric and street charges monthly. That would likely be the easiest way for us to do it. We’d just add a line item on the bill. We haven’t (gotten) into all of those details yet.”

Mayor Genshaw encouraged residents “to reach out to City Council, the city manager and let us know your thoughts on this. We’re not set one way or another.” He added that the issue is “not coming back for a vote anytime soon.”