The issue of trash and waste receptacles in Holmes Beach placed curbside on a Saturday afternoon for Monday morning pickup has been around for years, said code enforcement officer Dave Forbes.
The problem generally stems from renters who leave on a Saturday and put out the trash, or the cleanup crews that place the trash curbside days before a scheduled pickup.
Forbes said he’s tried being nice by writing letters to the rental agents reminding them of the city code, but no more Mister Nice Guy.
If friendly letters don’t result in voluntary signup for rear-door pickup or trash placed at the curb on a Sunday evening for Monday pickup, Forbes said the city might have to require the owner to pay for rear-door pickup service.
“The problem has been going on for years and years. We try to be nice about it, but it some cases, that’s not working,” he said.
Cleanup crews are among the worst offenders, he said. They’ll go to a rental on Saturday afternoon after the vacationers have left, pick up the garbage, place it in the designated receptacle, then leave it curbside.
Unfortunately, that’s often on a Saturday afternoon.
When a thunderstorm or high wind kicks up before the scheduled Monday pickup, it often spreads the garbage throughout the entire street and neighborhood.
That’s been happening a lot recently to Patti Geyer Reid of Harbor Drive.
The unit next to her is a vacation rental and occupants come in on a Sunday and leave Saturday. The cleanup crews come late Saturday afternoon and put the trash out for collection, even though pickup isn’t scheduled until Monday morning.
Reid said she often goes out on the street on Sundays to pick up the trash that’s blown out of the receptacles.
She said it’s been happening for quite some time, even when her mother, the late City Commissioner and Mayor Pat Geyer, lived on Harbor Drive.
Last week she sent photos depicting the trash pileup to city hall to make her point.
Forbes said it’s an ongoing problem and rear-door pickup would be a good solution.
Waste Management Inc., the city’s authorized trash hauler, offers rear-door collection service for about $2-plus a month more than the cost of regular service.