The Haines Borough’s Government and Services Committee at its Aug. 2 meeting discussed possible borough actions to reduce illegal dumping and burning following the restructured business model at Community Waste Solutions (CWS).

The committee weighed the possibility of mandating trash pickup, at least in the townsite. Various committee members said they believed that if people were obliged to pay for a service, they would use it – and therefore not dump or burn.

CWS landfill manager Craig Franke told the committee that increasing the number of curbside pickup customers would reduce the per-household cost of pickup. The facility currently picks up curbside trash, for those who opt in, three times a week, but if more people were using the service, it could increase that to six times a week.

Franke told the CVN he has “mixed emotions” about the idea of mandatory pickup. “I can sympathize with people who don’t like to be forced to buy a product,” he said. On the other hand, he pointed out that almost everywhere else in the country, waste disposal is a municipal function and so mandatory collection is the norm. Anyone who has lived outside of Haines has most likely had to pay for pickup, Franke said. “It’s like water -- I pay the same water bill as anyone else even though I don’t use much water,” Franke said.

Mayor Douglas Olerud and Franke both mentioned the possibility of the borough working with CWS as a private contractor in a hypothetical mandatory-pickup scenario. That means the borough would not actually collect the money, but it might set rules for participation in the service.

The conversation about mandatory pickup was only a discussion item and no motion or vote on the issue was made. Members also discussed other possible solutions, such as ramping up the advertising efforts for CWS’s drive-and-drop program. After the price per bag of garbage changes to a flat rate of $7 in mid-August, the prepaid bags will be cheaper than regular kitchen bags.

“Part of the reason our costs are so high is that we’ve tried to be responsive and always tried to do what the community wants even though it’s not the most economic way for us,” Franke said of the negative feedback he’s received since the price change.

The landfill’s current partially-composting hybrid processing system – which uses a compost process to reduce the volume of inert waste, which it then buries – is “expensive and labor-intensive,” Franke said at the meeting. But CWS has stuck with it because other possible methods -- like using an incinerator or straightforward compacting and burying – have previously faced community opposition.

“I know that we have a responsibility to the community and it’s not always measured in dollars and cents,” Franke said. As other examples of the organization’s community-minded – but unprofitable – gestures, Franke referenced his weekly trip to the Mosquito Lake community, the annual community cleanup, and its help with waste management at the state fair.

GAS committee member Debra Schnabel said she thinks “the community in general does recognize that CWS is being much more proactive and responsible under (Franke’s) management.”

In other news, GAS approved this year’s nonprofit funding application form, which must be turned in to the clerk’s office by 5 p.m. on Sept. 13. The assembly will review applications and allocate the $38,000 fund among eligible organizations at its Sept. 13 meeting.

It also recommended that the Haines Borough Assembly consider revising the Mud Bay Rural Residential Zone’s district intent statement to remove the word “self-determined.” Committee member Schnabel said she believes the language is leftover from a time when the zone was its own service area but is “a little lofty” and no longer appropriate.