Athens City Council members were in a gridlock over trash Monday night.
Athens City Council members were deadlocked at Monday night’s committee meeting, setting a proposed garbage ordinance back several weeks.
The Planning and Development Committee has had the ordinance, which would enforce stricter regulations on residential placement of garbage, on the table for several weeks now. It has already been revised multiple times following skepticism from council members and testimony from at least one Athens resident speaking before the body.
Councilwoman Chris Fahl, D-4th ward, presented the most recent draft of the ordinance, which would essentially require people to construct barriers in front of their garbage cans if they aren’t already out of sight. A similar law is already on the books, but multiple councilmembers said it offers perpetrators too much leeway.
The ordinance would also raise the fine for violations from $20 to $50.
“You would hope that everyone does this because they want a clean and safe city,” Fahl said.
Mayor Paul Wiehl and Service Safety Director Paula Horan-Moseley disagreed with the council, arguing that the ordinance created unnecessary restrictions for people who already kept their trash in order.
“(You’re) adding an ordinance where a majority of the people actually follow the rules,” Wiehl said. “You’re trying to change three different variables at the same time.”
Wiehl guessed that approximately 30 percent of residents don’t follow the law as it currently stands.
"As it stands now, I would veto this," Wiehl said.
Wiehl set up what councilmembers called an “ultimatum” for Horan-Moseley, telling her that she should start enforcing the current ordinance in order to gauge the extent to which the ordinance would affect citizens.
“At this point, we may as well enforce this fine without discretion,” he said. “If we’re going to be be robots about this, we might as well be robots.”
Joan Kraynanski appeared before council representing the Westside Neighborhood Association, and spoke in support of the ordinance despite its flaws. She urged Wiehl to support it.
“When you ran in your first election, one of the first issues you ran on was to get the trash cleaned up,” she said. “I’m holding you to that and I’m holding your staff to that.”
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