Carlton residents on private roads push back on dumpsters, two-tiered garbage collection

Photos by Tom Rivers: Dennis Moriarty, vice president of collection operations for Modern, speaks with about 125 residents from Carlton on Tuesday evening about garbage collection on private lanes or roads.

CARLTON – An issue that has lingered for years, even decades, was given a lengthy public airing on Tuesday when county officials and leaders of Modern Disposal met with 125 residents about garbage and recycling collection on private lanes and roads.

Modern said many of those roads are too narrow and don’t have turnarounds for the larger garbage trucks. The company uses pickup trucks with a hopper and lift to get the garbage and recycling from many of those sites. Those trucks only hold enough garbage for about 12 to 15 of the sites, and the driver then has to go find a larger garbage truck to transfer that trash – and then they go back to the private road for another fill. The big trucks can hold enough garbage from about 800 residential sites.

“We need to get smarter on how we do things,” Dennis Moriarty, vice president of collection operations for Modern, told the crowd of residents at the Carlton Rec Hall. “Unfortunately times change and we have to think of different ways of doing things.”

Moriarty said the current system, using three pickup trucks with hoppers on the private roads, is labor intensive, inefficient and proves costly.

Dennis Moriarty said Modern Disposal is open to options to serve residents on narrow private roads.

Modern has been discussing the issue with Carlton and Yates as well as county officials, looking for a better way to serve those residents. The county has about 15,000 residential customers served by Modern, and about 1,000 are on the private lanes and roads, mostly in Carlton and Yates.

Jack Welch, the county chief administrative officer, said those residents may need to be charged more because of the added expense in serving them.

But many of the Carlton residents at the meeting on Tuesday strongly pushed back on that, saying they are already grossly over-assessed for their property near the lake.

Some residents asked the town and county to upgrade the private roads to better accommodate the larger garbage trucks and add turnarounds. But Welch said the local governments can’t spend money to improve private property.

One of the residents, Marlene Seielstad, said the Carlton community on private roads should get a discount on their local taxes because they don’t get the same level of services as other residents.

“What resonates with me is the amount of taxes the waterfront people pay and the lack of services we get,” another resident said.

Marlene Seielstad said Carlton residents on private roads should get discounted tax bills because they receive less in local government services.

Moriarty said Modern is proposing to have about a dozen dumpsters for the private road residents in Carlton. The residents would need to bring their garbage and recycling to the site. If a property owner agreed to have the dumpster on their property, they would get free garbage and recycling.

The current fee for solid waste and recycling service is $216 a year, with properties classified as seasonal paying half that.

Many residents didn’t like the idea of dumpsters, saying many of the residents are elderly or disabled and it would be a hardship for them to have to bring it from their homes to the dumpsters, which could be 1,000 feet or more for some of the residents.

Moriarty said the proposal isn’t finalized. Modern is just putting it out as option and he welcomes more dialogue on the issue.

“We’re not trying to force this down,” Moriarty said about the dumpsters. “It’s an option.”

Modern officials are willing to meet with residents on a case-by-case basis to look at alternatives for serving them, he said.

Modern will meet with residents and would like to have another public meeting in the future to discuss how to best pick up the trash and recycling on the private roads.

Moriarty said there isn’t a deadline for reaching a decision.

“Let’s explore all options so everyone’s opinion can be heard,” he said.

Modern’s contract with the county was recently renewed for two more years and runs until the end of 2025. The company will be having a similar meeting with private road residents in Yates. That forum hasn’t been scheduled yet.

Moriarty thanked the Carlton residents for their input during the 1 ½ hour meeting on Tuesday.

“I thought it was a good conversation,” he told the group. “I love the passion about garbage.”