Most Elyria officials appear to oppose privatizing sanitation

ELYRIA — Council members and other city officials began discussion Monday about possibly privatizing the Elyria Sanitation Department. Though it appears that privatization would save the city and residents money, several Council members questioned how impactful these savings would really be, and it became clear that the majority of the city's elected officials opposed losing the Sanitation Department. The discussion was at a meeting Monday of Council's Strategic Planning Committee, which includes all members of Council, and came after Safety Service Director Chris Pyanowski received a financial study of the department which suggested the city explore privatization. The city also received three bids for comparable city refuse removal services from private companies: Republic Services, Rumpke Waste and Recycling and the Kimble Company. The study from Rea Business Advisors was a revision of a financial study that the company had originally performed in 2018. The study found that to remain solvent, the Sanitation Department would need to increase its rates by 5 percent over at least the next two years, and by further amounts to be calculated over the ensuing years. Rea suggested that before the city implements any such changes, it should research privatization as an option. The bids that Republic Services, Rumpke Waste and Recycling and the Kimble Company submitted were all well below the current rate Elyria currently charges: $33.38 for residential customers and $24.87 for homestead customers. Pyanowski said everyone at the meeting and most residents understood how good the city's Sanitation Department and its crews are, but that as costs continue to rise Council needed to ask itself hard questions about whether the service needed to be cut down or privatized. "The service is exceptional, but at some point the question becomes: Can we continue to afford it? Or can the residents continue to afford it?" Pyanowski said. "That is what we are looking at, while also trying to look at inefficiencies in the department of where we can do things better and save money… absent cutting services at the Sanitation Department, I don't see a lot of inefficiencies that we can start to take advantage of." The study and bidding process was requested by Council President Vic Stewart, D-at Large. On Monday, Stewart commended the work of the city's sanitation employees, many of whom were in the audience, but said it was the responsibility of the city's elected officials to look into ways to save the city, and the taxpayers, money. "I just wanted to look at it," Stewart said. "I want to compare what other communities do in this county, and I think that is fair. "I think that is what you would expect of your leaders — your officials here that you elected and who represent you — to see what is out there. We are tasked here to be fiscally responsible, and that was the very reason I did it (ask for the study and bids)." Various members of Council said they were skeptical that privatizing the department would truly save as much money as the study and bids seemed to show. Councilman Phil Tollett, D-at Large, said that the salaries and benefits of 11 administrative positions in the city are currently taken out of the Sanitation Department fund. If the department was done away with, he argued, these costs would largely fall on the city's already diminishing general fund. Pyanowski said that administrative costs are split among multiple departments because members of the administration spend time working on each department. Finance Director Ted Pileski said he believed that the Sanitation Department was important and the city could afford to keep it, but that Council would have to consider raising rates soon. "I'm also a proponent of keeping the department together, but you (Council) have to make a commitment to looking at the rates from here," Pileski said. "We can't do five years without rate increases like we have in the past." Elyria raised sanitation rates for the first time in several years in early 2025, when Council voted to increase rates by $5. "It (the department) is a business enterprise," Pileski said. "It is there to make money to cover depreciation, so we can buy the trucks and make a little profit to keep on going." One possible cost-saving tactic that several Council members spoke about was eliminating home recycling pickup and instead offering central hubs where residents who want to recycle can do so. Recycling has become a heavy cost because, Mayor Kevin Brubaker said, many Elyrians have begun using their recycling bins as "an extra trash." While Republic charges the city $59.59 per ton of trash taken to its landfill in Oberlin, the company charges $100 per ton of recycling material. Additionally, Republic charges the city an additional $70 fee for every ton which is more than 30 percent contaminated by organic matter or other non-recyclables. Brubaker, who said he is in favor of keeping the department, said contamination fees have become a heavy burden on the department, and the city needed to better educate residents on what was allowed in the recycling. "I think what's been forgotten in all of this is that the process of going out for bid and looking at pricing was a good exercise in looking at how we can shore up what we have, and some of the things have been brought up about," Councilwoman Mary Siwierka, D-3rd Ward, said. "We do need to reeducate the public on recycling, and recycling has changed a great deal since we went into it in 2010." Councilman Kenny Oswald, D-4th Ward, said that it was difficult to compare the cost of Elyria's Sanitation Department to other options because those other options could not offer other services the department does; like helping to clean up debris after storms and assisting with the setup and teardown of events like the Elyria Apple Festival. He also said that the message from his constituents since the topic of privatization was brought up had been clear: They were willing to pay more to keep Elyria's service in place. "I think the department does so much that people don't really realize, and to do an apples-to-apples comparison is kind of tough," Oswald said. "And even if I was 100 percent against keeping these guys (sanitation workers), I couldn't do it, because all my residents have said 'Kenny, you've got to vote this way.' I have got to vote the way (of) my residents, and my residents want us to keep these people and not to privatize with somebody else." Several other Council members said that their constituents would be willing to pay a higher price to maintain Elyria's in-house sanitation. Councilman Andrew Lipian, I-1st Ward, calculated the three years of 5 percent increases would add less than an additional $5.90 per month to what residents pay now. "Just to bring it all down to simplicity, that is less than the price of a grande cafe latte at Starbucks," Lipian said. "So for everybody to consider if the Sanitation Department is worth sacrificing for the next three years, one grande cafe latte per month, that puts it into simple terms and that puts it into perspective." Siwierka responded to Lipian's comment later in the meeting, saying that the cost increases needed to be seen as an important reason to try and reduce the costs the department already has. "I don't think that any of us want to trivialize how much the increase will be, I think we are all serious stewards of this," she said. "I think what we are tasked to do is look at both sides of the coin; how much the increase would be, how much it would affect the residents and the other side of the coin is, what can we do to minimize that? And what significant changes can we make to reduce our internal loss?" The meeting Monday was for discussion purposes only, so no action was taken. Stewart said that Strategic Planning would hold a further discussion meeting on privatization on Nov. 17, when a representative from Rea will be present to further explain the company's findings. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.