Tuesday, May 5, 2008, Albion Michigan. City residents packed into the tiny Albion City Council chamber this evening to protest the city’s plans to force residents to use one company to haul their trash away. Right now the residents have about 4 choices of companies that serve our town, which is now under ten thousand people. For some reason this item was left off of the meeting agenda, and the city manager Mike Herman stated that leaving the item off the agenda was an accident, however, I have a source from the city government that stated it would be left off because the council didn’t want the entire town to come down and object to their plan.
One by one, citizens came up to the podium at address the council’s plan and not one of them had anything to say about it that was positive, even when Mayor Will Wheaton asked if anyone had anything positive to say. Resident Rick Tibbs stated that he recycled everything he could and had no need to pay a company to pick up his trash. Under this proposal, city residents would all have to use one company, and the bill for the services would be placed on the tax/water bill. Residents are concerned about losing rights, the freedom to choose who to do business with and the higher water bills that will be the result. A few residents spoke of a desire to elect new council members if the current ones are unwilling to realistically represent their constituents.
And I was hoping for free internet someday.
The council stated that they were interested in a cheaper rate and that all the information was not yet in. Over the course of the next month the council will have more information to pass onto the worried city residents who are already angry over a recent hike on property taxes to pay for sidewalk repair.
If anyone would like a video DVD of the meeting, email me at kc8emh@yahoo.com. I only ask a small fee of $5 to cover the cost of copying.
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