The Exeter Board of Supervisors decided to post the results of a survey regarding the idea of municipal refuse collection.
The board voted 4-1 in favor of putting the survey online.
Ken Smith was the only supervisor against it. Smithstated that putting the survey up before more people got the chance to take the survey would perhaps sway opinion. He also said they should wait until more people took the survey to put online.
The survey, which has not concluded, asks three questions concerning refuse pick up: Do you have any special waste requirements or needs? Would you be interested in learning more about municipal refuse pick-up? And it finally asks for comments or concerns about the idea of municipal refuse pick-up.
According to Lloyd, the idea for municipal refuse was something that was thought of years ago by the fire department. He explained that money from any municipal refuse would not go into building a third fire station.
‘It is perceived that the fire company wants money for a new station but that is not true,’ Lloyd said.
He explained that a couple of weeks ago Supervisor Jeff Bukowski wanted to explore the position again and Lloyd decided it would be a good idea to put out a survey to see how the town was feeling about the issue.
The 25 page document has the answers of 180 residents who were given the survey. The board hopes that by putting it online more people will have the chance to take the survey and weigh in on the debate.
By in large, residents who have answered the survey are against the idea of a single municipal outsourced company to single handedly taking care of all of the refuse collection within Exeter.
Many people who responded in the comments section believe that putting in one collected for the municipality would shut down some of the family owned refuse collectors who have had the same customers for years.
Some in favor of a municipal service are annoyed by constantly having different trash collectors in their neighborhood everyday of the week.
So far, only 180 people have taken the survey and have had their results posted online.
‘We were only able to get the survey out to the 700 people who were on the email list,’ Lloyd said.
He explained that for future surveys, the questions would be attached to the quarterly newsletter so that residents could mail or drop off their responses to the survey in.
There are currently 16 different refuse collectors who are licensed to collect trash in Exeter Township.
The survey initially asks for your name, address and email but that information is redacted when displayed on the municipal website. There is a meeting scheduled on May 13 to discuss the idea of municipal refuse.
Full survey results can be viewed: http://www.exetertownship.com/Lists/News/Attachments/229/Trash%20Survey%20Summary%204-22-13,%20180%20people.pdf
