Benton talks trash, animals

Meeting covers mandatory recycling, dog-control law

BENTON - A new mandatory countywide curbside recycling and trash pickup program for residents of five Saline County towns and a stricter animal-control ordinance in Benton were the main topics at a city meeting Tuesday.

A few Benton aldermen had dozens of questions about the curbside pickup program set to begin sometime next year in Benton, Bryant, Haskell, Alexander and Shannon Hills.

The Saline County Regional Solid Waste Management District board - made up of County Judge Lanny Fite and the mayors of the five cities or their representatives - decided to create the program that would require residents in city limits to participate.

Residents who don’t pay the fees won’t be able to buy license plates , said Michael Grappe, executive director of the solid waste district.

Alderman Bill Donner said that isn’t right and is too much power for one board to have, noting that a resident who opts out of city water services isn’t punished.

The solid waste district board will put out bids for a single company to take over curbside trash and recycling pickup in July and select a company in September or August, Grappe said.

He added that he is working to come up with ways to lessen the impact this will have on small-business haulers who will lose their city customers and be restricted to county areas.

The goal of the program, he said, is to make curbside recycling available citywide and lower the monthly costs for trash pickup. He said he anticipates for the board to accept an offer of anywhere between $9 and $11 per house per month for both trash and recycling pickup services, he said.

An administrative fee would be added and if a city chooses to add a franchise fee in order to collect more revenue, that will also be added. The highest he anticipates a monthly bill to be is $20, he said.

One resident at the meeting Tuesday spoke in favor of the new program, saying she already pays about $24 per month for trash pickup and has to haul her own recycling to a drop-off location.

At least two other residents were present to discuss the draft of a revised animal-control ordinance.

Cindy Bowden prompted the City Council’s decision to rewrite their animal-control ordinance, last updated in 2010, after she confronted the council in January when her dog was attacked by another.

The new proposal for the ordinance is more concise, City Attorney Brett Houston said.

One new addition is that any animal determined vicious would be required to have a microchip so that it could be tracked. Another change is that the district judge would have the sole authority to declare an animal vicious based on certain guidelines, rather than the city’s animal-control department.

The drafted update to the ordinance will be discussed more in depth at a meeting with residents and city officials at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 114 S. East St. in Benton.

Two public hearings on the new waste and recycling pickup program will take place in July, one in Benton and one in Bryant.

Arkansas, Pages 14 on 06/05/2013

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