Oct 9, 2002 By Jenny Susa 3 min read

FAYETTE CITY – Borough council has voted to change the borough’s garbage removal ordinance, citing a problem with residents not paying for garbage pickup. “(The ordinance) is very outdated and the garbage collector has had problems collecting fees from some people,” said Mayor Herb Vargo.

According to Vargo, the ordinance states that the property owner must pay the garbage collector for pickup. He said that unless a residence is vacant, the garbage collector has the right to charge a fee, even if the resident is not putting any garbage out to be removed.

“We need to get people to pay their bills, because the garbage collector has basically told me that if they don’t pay them, they can let their garbage pile up,” said Vargo. “If he decides not to pick up the garbage because people are not paying their bills, we are going to have a health problem.”

“If an individual doesn’t pay and they let their garbage sit, we have a refuse ordinance for that,” board President Jim Eley added.

Vargo said he thought an amendment was necessary to state in the ordinance that if the property owner does not pay for garbage removal, the authority can take action to penalize that person. “Then if the problem does arise again, it will be taken care of,” said Vargo.

Solicitor Simon John said the ordinance could say that the property owners are required to pay, and if they do not, the borough can put liens on their property.

The council would have to advertise the amendment in a newspaper at least seven days before adopting it, John said.

The board voted to change the ordinance to say that the borough can take action if bills are not paid, and it will be in effect next month after the amendment has been published.

In relation to ordinances that are outdated, Eley said the borough could correct them upon discovery.

“As we find a problem with one, we will correct it, since to go through all of the ordinances at one time and update them would be too costly,” he said.

In other matters, the board awarded a $37,547.30 contract to Donegal Construction in Greensburg for a paving project. Eley said he would notify the company that it could proceed with the project, and it must finish the work within 30 working days of that notification.

The roads to be paved include Water, Lower, North, Liberty, Market and Union streets and an alley between California and Liberty streets.