SILVER CREEK - Silver Creek Village Trustee Thomas Harmon has done his research and once again pushed for a move from providing garbage bags to stickers.
Harmon asked clerk Wendy Pagano to do a time study of how much time she spends counting and dealing with the garbage bags the village sells to residents for garbage pickup. He came to the board with the results.
He said the clerks office spends six hours per week dealing with the garbage bags and that doesn't even include the time the highway department has to spend transporting the garbage bags to the village hall.
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Silver Creek Village Trustee Thomas Harmon brought up the idea of moving from providing garbage bags to garbage stickers again at the village board meeting Monday.
"On our end as far as unrolling them, boxing them, it takes her roughly six hours per week, times four is 24 hours per month. The DPW, they have to pick up, they have to transfer, they have to deliver and there is about eight hours a month in that as well. That is 32 hours plus we are losing per month just on garbage bags."
He said the village spends hundreds of man hours per year on the garbage bags. He said by transitioning to stickers the village can save money in man hours and the cost of material.
"We can be more productive than that if we go to this garbage sticker system," he added.
Harmon said the sticker system has worked for the village of Gowanda and this would save the village money which could be passed on to residents. The bags cost the village between 17-18 cents per 1,000, the stickers would only cost 3-4 cents and the stickers can be stored in the clerk's office instead of pallets taking up space in the highway building.
Trustee Nick Piccolo said in his work with Meals on Wheels, he has heard some concerns about the stickers from seniors. He said seniors are concerned with the added cost of bags along with the cost of the stickers, as well as animals shredding the store-bought bags.
It was argued with the leash law there aren't as many loose dogs to tear the trash and wild animals already tear the village bags.
Resident Nancy Clees asked Harmon if there would be an increased cost associated with the stickers. Harmon said the village needs to research the the cost to the village but if anything the cost to residents would decrease due to the savings.
No decision was made on the matter but Harmon said the village must do so before it needs to order more bags.
Deputy Mayor Amy Romanik brought another possible change to the table. She said the board needs to make a decision on whether to bill for water quarterly instead of twice a year as it is currently done.
She said one of the benefits of changing are earlier detection of water leaks and the cost to residents will remain about the same.
Piccolo said this change could also make it easier for seniors on fixed incomes to budget for the expense.
Although all the village board members seemed to be in favor of this change the board took no action on it.
In other business:
Resident Anna Frederickson asked the village board once again if the owner of the building the village demolished had been contacted to take responsibility for the cost. She said she pays $87 per month to pay village taxes and does not want to pay for the demolition on private property. Romanik said she agreed and moved on to other public comments.
Timothy Christian was sworn in as animal control officer. Christian is a former police officer for the village.
The village authorized the school resource officer contract with Silver Creek School. The agreement with Forestville School has yet to come before the board. Chief Timothy Roche said the education training for the SRO is not offered this fall and the spring schedule is not out yet.
