Assemblyman Maher Meets With Villagers Who Claim Trash Fiasco

Village of South Blooming Grove - At the request of about a dozen residents of the Village of South Blooming Grove, Assemblyman Brian Maher met with them at his office in Washingtonville to discuss what they feel is an expanded trash collection charge that is not only excessive, but they feel is not even legal. The Village added an expanded weekly trash pickup, after refusing an extra expanded collection bid from Marangi that they thought was too high during the regular budget process. An extra Villagewide pickup essentially doubles the cost to residents, despite many residents saying they don't need a second pickup, and in fact some senior residents only put their one trash container out every other week. A foil and response of the Marangi company that does the pickup, they said, showed a contract that was not even signed. Further, residents say that trash pickup is part of the townwide bill, and they question the right of the Village to try to negotiate a separate trash pickup without a formal bidding process. Since the are part of the Town Refuse District they must work within the current legal budget. They were shown the relevant State laws. Removing the Village from the Town's disposal list would require a referendum. Village was advised that the easiest correct alternative way to proceed would be to go out to bid for expanded service for the Village only, as part of the Town District, again next year and hope for a better bid. But bidding is a legal requirement, and these contracts cannot be negotiated privately.

Maher was intent on collecting every detail in order to follow up on the complaint, which includes pages and pages of email communications about how the process has to occur by law. He assured the residents at the meeting that he will follow up on what can and should be done about this quagmire, which had formerly been resolved simply by residents with expanded trash needs ordering an extra bin or bins at their own cost.

Assemblyman Maher has already been very active in the Village of Washingtonville in other ways and assists, such as promoting events and simply stopping by frequently and getting to know the Village's residents, officials, and business owners.