Talking trash at BOMA; final warning for your neighbor, Two-Can Sam.

After extending gratitude to the city and the Board of Supervisors for a “safe and productive” Mighty ‘Sip Fest last weekend, Flaggs got down to business… trash business.

According to Flaggs, BOMA is working on the next contract with Waste Management. In the interest of transparency, Flaggs let the public know that prices will be going up, partly due to inflation and regular business costs. In choosing the optimal plan for the contract, Flaggs pointed out, “options are few” when quality is a priority.

“When you want the highest quality service, you’re going to have to pay probably the highest quality money,” said Flaggs.

Another item of importance is deciding whether or not garbage is picked up once a week or twice a week.

“I recommend twice a week,” said Flaggs, adding however that the relevant committee might feel differently.

Perhaps most importantly, Flaggs addressed the discrepancy in payments for garbage pickup.

“We found there is a gap between what had been assessed by waste management in terms of cans per household vs. what we’re being billed for,” Flaggs stated.

Flaggs further told the public that these numbers will be analyzed to make sure they are correct. If they are, Flaggs proposed a potential cause to be addressed: “What [the gap] is telling me is that some people have two cans per household and are not being billed.” 

Though customers are free to purchase an extra official can, the pickup of extra nonofficial containers of trash is potentially costing the city substantially. According to Flaggs only about 10 households have the official second can.

 “You can call Water & Gas for an extra can” Flaggs informed, concerning officially approved extra bins.

 Flaggs asserted that the Board is working on recommendations to address this issue: 

“We can no longer use the honor system,” Flaggs concluded.