Frackville council to investigate borough-run garbage collection

April 11--FRACKVILLE -- Frack-ville borough council approved a motion by Councilman William Creasy at Wednesday's meeting to take a logistical look at the possibility of collecting household trash using borough equipment and employees.

The unanimous vote to consider Creasy's idea does not change the current contract with Kreitzer Sanitation to collect trash throughout the borough.

Creasy suggested the borough take on collecting recyclables to save money.

"I'd like to make a motion that the borough look into taking over the trash collection for the year 2015," Creasy said. "We should look into taking over the trash ourselves in 2015 when our contract (with Kreitzer) is up."

Creasy's motion was seconded by council Vice President Peter Zuber.

Before the vote, questions were raised about what such a change would involve.

"How much further do we want to look into it?" Councilman Bradley Gotshall asked.

"We need to look into buying a truck, see what it's going to cost," Creasy said.

Council President Ronald Jordan said that any study into changing to a borough-operated collection system has to look at all aspects.

"My only concern is that when people do that job and they get injured, it costs the borough money," Jordan said. "You have workmans' compensation. There is a lot of costs when someone gets hurt, whether it's a policeman or a borough worker. ... Workmans' compensation is costly, so I would be hesitant. Someone needs to their homework to understand that part of the business. I'm OK with someone looking into it further at that end of the spectrum, so we need to do some really detailed homework and see what the cost is."

"And you also have to increase your staff, too," Mayor Kim Phillips said.

"If we get that information, I'm willing to look at it. That's fine with me," Jordan said.

"I mentioned it to someone who does insurance and that was the first thing they said to me about the workers' comp," Councilwoman Karen Domalakes said. "And we have a hard time finding coverage."

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