At my recent Town Hall, I shared my concern that there are still significant outstanding questions in the community regarding the potential conversion to countywide, government-run trash service. Residents and private haulers raised many concerns that the County needs to follow up on before any public hearing including the legality of breaking many longstanding HOA covenants to accommodate a county-run trash service. Following the town hall, I am happy to report that the Board of Supervisors recognized these concerns and decided at our June 10th meeting to defer the public hearing on the proposal for a county-run trash service from June 24th until October 14th to allow more time to answer community concerns.
Thank you to all of you who participated in the Town Hall. If you missed it, you can watch the full town hall recording here.
In my last newsletter, I shared with you the details on my two sets of concerns about a county-run trash service. First, the impacts of the decision to start the five-year waiting period as well as going to countywide districts – reduced competition, elimination of choices, the potential for reduced services after approval, impact on HOAs, etc. The second set of concerns, and more impactful, is what the change would allow the Board to do to residents – mandatory recycling and composting, establishment of enforcement mechanisms (“trash police”) and a new Zero Waste Fee (“trash tax”). You can read more details on these concerns in my last newsletter.
Prior to October 14th, I encourage you to share your feedback and questions with the entire Board by emailing ClerktotheBOS@fairfaxcounty.gov. You also have the opportunity to sign up to testify at the October 14th public hearing via phone, pre-recorded video, or in person.
As we get closer to the public hearing and receive more information from staff, I will share more updates with you.