On 08/09/2021 the Municipal Services Committee took up Resolution 10-R-21 related to Scavenging of Solid Waste and Recyclables. This resolution was introduced by Alderperson Michael Smith (District 10) and, if passed, would repeal Appleton’s anti Scavenging ordinance and allow people to legally collect items left out on the terrace for garbage and recycling collection.
Public Works Director Paula Vandehey gave some background to the committee. Alderperson Smith reached out to the DPW Deputy Director and Sanitation Supervisor as well as to the Police Department to get feedback. She stated that eliminating the scavenging ordinance lined up with what the committee and the Public Works Department had been talking about recently regarding how once an item is on the terrace and the garbage truck gets it, it is going to the landfill. If someone has a desk they don’t need anymore and can’t find anyone willing to take it and they put it on the terrace if someone comes and pick it up that means it won’t go to the landfill which is what the Department of Public works likes to see. So scavenging of large items seemed like a good thing to her. The one issue was that no one wanted people dumping out trash cans and leafing through the garbage to get aluminum cans or such things, but they were still generally supportive of the resolution.
Alderperson Brad Firkus (District 3) said that in reading through the memos regarding the resolution [which were not attached to the agenda packet or minutes so I can’t share them with readers], it looked like trespassing could potentially be an applicable ordinance to look at if residents have issues with people going through their trash cans against their wishes.
He said he had received a question asking if the city had been or still was reclaiming any of the scrap metal that could be sold for money. Was the city still doing that and generating any revenue from it? Would opening scavenging up to the public compete with that and impact revenue for the department?
A male staffer answered that they do currently pick metal up from the curbs. Scrappers typically beat them to it, but they do still currently collect plenty of metal. He didn’t think that making scavenging legal would change anything because scrappers would still be there regardless. The city already planned on a slight reduction due to the changes in the bulky overflow collection, so revenue shouldn’t be impacted much. The amount of money they get also depends on the market. What they get for metal fluctuates from year to year, so it’s a tough thing to budget for anyway.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) said that Director Vandehey had mentioned people scavenging through recyclables but the proposed resolution would rescind that. She did not think that the current ordinance stopped people from doing that sort of digging through garbage cans, and she had a couple of constituents express concerns that that could be a problem. She didn’t necessarily think it would be a concern since there had been talk about using the trespassing ordinance to deal with that sort of behavior but she did want to clarify how they could address those concerns.
Alderperson William Siebers (District 1) said he saw the current ordinance as one that they have but don’t enforce, but it is an ordinance that, from his perspective, was one they would be glad to have if they have a problem like Alderperson Hartzheim mentioned, so he was going to vote against the resolution. He mentioned he saw a video of somebody going through someone’s garbage can and the garbage ending up on the street, so there were issues.
Director Vandehey said her understanding was that the trespassing ordinance was not relevant to this situation once an item was on the public right-of-way because a person can’t really trespass on the public right-of-way. She thought the ordinance said that once the garbage can was on the terrace that it belonged to the city, not the homeowner, so she didn’t think trespassing would cover the situation they were talking about.
Assistant City Attorney Abshire said that she hadn’t had an opportunity before the meeting to pull numbers but she wasn’t sure that Alderperson Siebers’ statement that this ordinance was not enforced was accurate. She could recall some instances when police officers were called for these types of investigations, but she didn’t have the numbers off the top of her head.
Alderperson Firkus pointed out the lack of enforcement could just be due to the fact that something can be removed from a curb so quickly that even if a resident does call police it’s difficult to catch the person who took it unless possibly they’re driving around with a truck full of times and the resident could point out the item that was taken.
Alderperson Hartzheim asked if they could potentially modify the resolution to state that it applied only to items that were set out on the curb but not in a container because those were the items the city was trying to keep out of the landfill.
Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) had been thinking the same thing. [As had I.] He also commented that a number of residents put things out on the curb with the hopes that they will be scavenged. They put things out any day of the week on the terrace with the knowledge that someone might come by, look at it and think it’s worthwhile, and take is, vs having to haul it to the Restore or some other place to get rid of it. He thought there was a reliance by some residents on that as a vehicle to recycle things without having to do much work on their own part, so he saw that curb as part of an active recycling/reuse opportunity. Because it was on the public right-of-way, he didn’t have an issue with the idea and thought that amending the resolution to except recycle and trash bins from the scavenging opportunity would make it a good resolution.
Alderperson Firkus said he was guilty of putting things out on the curb for other people to take, especially some children’s items and toys that some places aren’t willing to take because they won’t take things that children have sat in. He said it had been nice to know that somebody was going to get a new tricycle out of it.
Director Vandehey wondered if the committee would refer the item to staff to look at. She heard what they were hoping to do and maybe staff could work on it with the attorney’s office to frame the language. It sounded like everyone was kind of in agreement, in liking the idea of taking individual items from the curb but not anything within the bins.
Alderperson Firkus offered Alderperson Smith the opportunity to speak.
Alderperson Smith said that he had stated in an email that the resolution was either going to get voted on or referred to staff, and seeing that it was going to be referred there was nothing more for him to say until he saw the final product. He did not that Captain Freeman at the Police Department had mentioned that they get a few complaints each year, but they are largely trespassing complaints related to people picking through apartment dumpsters or receptacles on other private properties. There was a man in Captain Freeman’s neighborhood who makes the rounds every Tuesday, so if Captain Freeman wanted to cite anyone, he could have been citing this person all along.
Alderperson Smith ended by good naturedly saying, “I was a good guy. I had a dehumidifier that I wanted to recycle, so I went to the Fire Department and picked up my sticker. I paid my $20-$25 bucks, whatever it was. I wish I could get my money back because it never made it to recycling.” There were some chuckles.
Alderperson Chad Doran (District 15) said he was in favor of the resolution. He thought it was a great idea that met the goals of what the city was trying to do regarding garbage. He had to believe that the complaints that the police department does receive fall very much to the bottom of the priority list of things to be looked at, and he thought that, honestly, having the current ordinance in place was not something that anyone who was scavenging was going to follow anyway. Given that it’s something the city rarely enforces, he was of the belief that the ordinance was unnecessary, and if the activity was something that they actually were going to encourage people to take advantage of then they should rescind the ordinance.
Alderperson Schultz said that he also would like to see some language included about the risk for individuals picking things off the curb whether be it broken glass or sharp metal. He wanted to make sure there was some clear language that, if someone was going to be taking things that belonged to the city once they were on the terrace, if they hurt themselves the city was not responsible.
The committee voted to refer the item to staff for further review and work. They did not put a date on when it would be back before the committee but Alderperson Firkus confirmed with Director Vandehey that it would be ready by the next Municipal Services Committee meeting on 08/23/2021.
[I finish this recap after only a couple hours ago seeing a man with his little miniature dog going systematically up and down the streets in my neighborhood in a pickup truck pulling a trailer, loaded down with scrap he was pulling off the curb. Clearly it happens and the police no doubt have way better things to do than track scrappers down, so perhaps it is time to allow scavenging and set parameters around what acceptable scavenging activities in Appleton are.]
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=859288&GUID=33364E56-1C21-43B6-AA51-D8BDAAD69CB8&Options=info|&Search=
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