Residents’ input to be sought on trash pick-up, water lines

by Chris Studor

March 22 township trustees meeting

In the coming months, Hinckley residents will be asked to provide township trustees with input regarding the township’s contract with Kimble Waste Service as well as their interest in having county water lines installed in their area, including a line that would serve the Hinckley Historic Town Center.

Trustee Monique Ascherl, who serves as the township’s liaison to Kimble, said Hinckley’s contract with Kimble expires Jan. 31, 2025. The contract calls for all residents to be sent the annual opt-out letter each August. Residents may opt out, for instance, if they own a business on their home site and have a commercial dumpster.  Ascherl said it makes sense to seek residents’ opinions on continuing the contract when the opt-out letter is sent this August.

“I honestly don’t know whether residents want to continue with Kimble as the township’s single trash hauler or not,” said Ascherl. “I do feel seeking residents’ opinions is the most diplomatic way to find out. There are pros and cons of having a single hauler in sense that many see it as a monopoly. But there are advantages. Several area townships that did not have a single-hauler contract didn’t get their recycling picked up for months when Kimble was short on drivers last year. Hinckley continued to have recycling picked up because of our single hauler contract with Kimble called for removing recycling. Having a single hauler can be of considerable savings for many when you compare the cost of Kimble in other township’s where there is not a single hauler contract.”

Ascherl said once the contract expires, the township will seek an increase in the amount of opt-outs, which is now at 5% of residents. She added that the township is also seeking the opinion of the Medina County Prosecutor regarding Hinckley’s ability to add an addendum to the current contract which would provide residents who have businesses on their home site and commercial dumpsters with a business exemption.

“We are asking for this addendum because, somehow, over time, those who live on the same site as their business thought they had a business exemption when it should have been considered an opt-out according to Kimble,” she said. “We are not sure how this evolved, but we are seeking the prosecutor’s opinion on whether the contract can be amended at this time to provide for a business exemption rather than it be counted on the township’s allowable opt-out. We need to see if we can get the opt-out increased overall because there are so many instances where people have other ways they can legally handle their own trash.”

Another letter to residents, expected to be mailed this summer, will seek residents’ input on bringing county water lines to the township. Trustees are still discussing how the letter will be written – either outlining a number of options in which water lines could be run, or just a single option that would bring water to the center of Hinckley where most businesses are no county water lines currently exist.

Trustee Melissa Augustine has been researching grant opportunities to help lower the cost. The estimated cost of bringing water to the center of Hinckley is $2 million and each individual property owner would have additional tie-in fees. The cost can be spread over a 20-year period on an individual property owner’s monthly water bills.

Over the past year, trustees have discussed whether to use American Rescue Plan funding to help with extending a water line to the center of the township. The township has nearly $9 million in ARP funds.

While Augustine said she favors using some ARP funds to help with a water line, Ascherl said she was against using ARP funds for a water line “because it would benefit too few people.”

In other action:

  • Trustee Jack Swedyk announced that the township will go out for bid for the repair of Boston Road in a joint agreement with the city of North Royalton. The engineer’s estimated cost for the project is $46,160. Swedyk explained that the project cost can be shared, though agreement, since Boston Road is a shared road with North Royalton
  • Trustees tabled a resolution to provide for removal of trash at a private property on River Road. Trustees said the property owner has been contacted by the township to clean up the site but, to date, the township has not received a reply from the owners. The Medina County Health Department has also issued an order for the property owner to clean up the site. Swedyk said he would like to obtain a cost estimate for the cleanup before approving a resolution for the township to contract to have the property cleaned. Trustees thought the township might generate enough funds from scrap metal on the site to cover the cost for removal knowing the cost will go on the property owner’s tax bill and eventually be paid for. A nearby property owner told trustees there was a bad smell, like sewage overflow, coming from the site
  • Fire Chief Jestin Grossenbaugh said the fire department has received recognition from the Red Cross for collecting 30-40 pints of blood on a continual basis at the department’s monthly blood drive.
  • Augustine said she has received many compliments on how well township sexton, Suzanne Peterlin, has maintained the township’s three cemeteries and thanked Peterlin for her diligence. ∞