Altadena Garbage Contract Approved (Altadena Patch article)

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Altadena Garbage Contract Approved

The contract will lock in Altadena residents with Athens Service as their provider

By Dan Abendschein and Justin Chapman, Altadena Patch, 5/17/2011

The county Board of Supervisors approved a garbage contract for Altadena residents on Tuesday that will make Athens Service the sole franchise for Altadena at a monthly charge of $18.06 per household for basic services.
The contract was listed on the agenda on Tuesday and Town Council Chair Gino Sund said Tuesday night he had received word that it had been approved, and a spokesman for Supervisor Michael Antonovich confirmed it Wednesday.  Sund said he expects the contract will start some time in September.
Currently, Altadena is serviced by various private providers with different rate structures, but the Athens contract would force residents to get their service through the company.
Initially, county officials had withheld the terms of the new contract, but revealed the details after an Altadena Patch public records request.
The $18.06 monthly service charge will cover once a week automated trash collection and recycling service with each customer receiving one 96 gallon refuse container, up to two 96 gallon green waste containers, up to two 96 gallon recyclable containers, and a 64 gallon manure container. The second containers and the manure containers are available only by request, but don't raise the price of service.
Additional 96 gallon containers beyond that go for $5 each and additional manure ones for $10. Customers will be billed through the mail on a quarterly basis, and there is a 25 percent senior discount.  Homes on streets that are difficult to access could cost $22.57 per month.
Annual rate increases would be done by a formula that is heavily dependent on the Southern California portion consumer price index (CPI) that is used to measure cost of living increases. There could also be an increase depending on the cost of diesel and on the fees charged by the waste facilities that Athens used  (the formula that would be used can be viewed at right).
The terms of when there would be an increase were set by county officials when they put out a request for proposal for the contract.
The contract would run for seven years with county officials having the option of extending the contract on the same terms for three additional years.
Other features of the new trash contract will include:
  • Three on-call bulky item collections per year in unlimited quantities, including certain electronic device
  • Collection of excess green waste that is bagged and bundled ten times a year
  • Semi-annual electronic waste and clothing drop-off events
  • An annual curbside cleanup event in unlimited quantities, and free container roll-out services for qualified customers.

Whiz Kid: Catching up with Juilliard-Bound Ariana Solotoff (South Pasadena Patch article)

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Whiz Kid: Catching up with Juilliard-Bound Ariana Solotoff

Solotoff is performing her senior recital at Oneonta Congregational Church in South Pas Saturday

By Justin Chapman, South Pasadena Patch, 5/12/2011

Ever since she could remember, South Pas resident Ariana Solotoff knew she wanted to be a professional violist. A senior at the Center for Independent Study (CIS) Academy at Pasadena High School, Solotoff, 17, grew up surrounded by music and always had ambitions of attending the prestigious Juilliard School. This month, her dreams came true when she was accepted for the fall 2011 semester. 
"[My mom] had a chamber group, like a string quartet, and they would rehearse at our house back in Long Island," Solotoff recalls. "And when I was about 3 or 4, I would be sitting in the middle of the four of them drawing while they were rehearsing."
To celebrate her transition from high school to college, Solotoff is hosting a recital—which she organized herself—on Saturday at 7 p.m. at . You can expect sophisticated performances from Solotoff and a slew of her friends: pianist Anton Smirnoff, violist Jenni Seo, violinist Erin Dennis and cellist Lindon Chen.
"I am having this recital to sort of finish off the first part of my life with a great performance and to relish in the fact that I have actually become good enough to even think about auditioning at places like Juilliard and Colburn," she said.
It's also a farewell and goodbye to high school and Los Angeles, she wrote on her Facebook event page.
"This performance is a way for me to show how far I've come since I started," she said. "It's like the beginning of me going to college and the end of everything else."
With the help of her private teacher at the University of Southern California, this is something Solotoff decided to coordinate independently from high school. Although Solotoff can also play the violin, clarinet, trombone, guitar, piano and cello, the viola takes precedence and is her main passion. She practices the viola anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours everyday.
"I play viola everyday of my life unless I'm so ill that I can't get out of bed," she said. "These other instruments I have played in the past—I could pick them up again if I wanted to, but I am a violist."
In addition to attending (CIS) Academy, Solotoff attends The Colburn School and takes private lessons at USC with Donald McInnes. (He's a world renowned violist and solo performer who recently went to Beijing and Shanghai to teach seven-hour master classes in Chinese conservatories.) Not to mention, she teaches music at the , which her mother founded, directs and owns.
"[South Pasadena Strings Program] is home to many, many fantastic young musicians who have been to Carnegie Hall twice and so on, and they're getting pretty big," she said, adding: "It's like a little community of little musicians. They're so cute running around with their violins."
With her violinist mother as her first teacher, Solotoff learned how to play the violin when she was about 6 years old. That's when she became interested in playing music. Her favorite kind of music is classical, but she also enjoys Klezmer, a traditional Jewish style of music, and jazz. She tried playing jazz on viola for a while, which she said was a fun experiment.
"This is what I want to do with my life. It's my only passion," said Solotoff. She added: "I don't have a backup plan; I really plan on doing this for the rest of my life. I was born a musician, and I'm going to die a musician basically." 



Committee Examining Changes to Altadena Business, Residential Codes (Altadena Patch article)

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Committee Examining Changes to Altadena Business, Residential Codes

At Tuesday’s Land Use meeting, members began discussing what codes they want to consider changing within the Altadena Community Standards District, which haven’t been altered (with two exceptions) since 1987—and they want your input

By Justin Chapman, Altadena Patch, 5/5/2011

Requirements on signage, level of advertisement, parking requirements, and design standards on both businesses and homes in Altadena are about to come under a review process for the first time since 1987.
The Altadena Town Council has begun the slow process of altering portions of the Altadena Community Standards District (CSD), which are the zoning codes and other regulations and ordinances that property and business owners must follow within the unincorporated community.
The size and amount of signage and self-advertisement on a retail business and additions to homes needing Conditional Use Permits are examples of some of the restrictions that people have to follow.
In the last year alone, the town has seen businesses, organizations, and events ranging from the to the to , a petting zoo for autistic children, run afoul of current zoning requirements in the Altadena district codes. 
At the council's 16-member Land Use Committee (LUC) meeting Tuesday night, the nine present members discussed what the scope of the changes should be and mentioned that they're interested in looking at both commercial and residential standards, including signage and banners on businesses, parking, design standards, mixed-use development and the areas that are both residential and commercial. 
The group will also examine what kind of businesses are desired in what areas of Altadena, more specific setback requirements for additions to houses, and other similar issues.
Altadena's set of community codes has not been altered since 1987, except for two recent changes regarding residential zones and the Hillside Ordinance, which limits new building and development on hillside areas in the town.
There is also a Lake Avenue Standards District that the committee discussed looking at to identify successes and problems that can be addressed in the rest of Altadena. The committee's member and council chair Gino Sund said they will be issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to hire a consultant to help identify the scope of what changes should be made to the Altadena CSD.
Long-time Land Use Committee member Steve Haussler is on a subcommittee of the LUC along with an architect, a landscaper, and a consultant that is looking at residential zoning problems that come before Land Use. Right now they're trying to see if homeowners who want to only make small additions to their homes, such as building one bedroom or bathroom or a combination, can be exempt from the large homes ordinance that mostly applies to larger additions.
"The existing ordinance has worked very well for many projects," said Haussler. "But it has to do with larger additions. It unfairly affects people who want to build one bedroom or a master bathroom. All of a sudden the ordinance makes it extremely burdensome to do that. And we're looking at that for people to do small additions."
His subcommittee hasn't worked with the county yet, but he plans to make a presentation on their work at either the next Land Use meeting or the one after that. He's hoping for more public input on this process and the bigger project of altering the Community Standards District.
"I'm going to see if the other Land Use members agree with our recommendations and after that we'll go to county staff and see how they feel about it," he said. "We're hoping to come up with language that is close to what county staff expects. The subcommittee is made up of people who deal with the codes. We're not trying to make a major change in the code; we're trying to protect people doing small projects."
He added that he and the rest of the Land Use Committee would welcome more community input. Only two community members attended Tuesday's meeting.
"I don't think the public has enough input on Land Use Committee issues because they don't know it exists," he said. Committee meetings are held at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month in the located at 730 E. Altadena Drive. The next meeting will be held June 7, when the discussion of altering the Community Standards District will continue.
The committee's chairman, Brian League, said at Tuesday's meeting that the committee will eventually make a recommendation to the town council about what changes to the district they think are necessary and desirable, but did not set a specific timeline.
Committee member Brent Musson suggested that they adopt California's Green Building Codes and add it to the district's rules. He noted that California has adopted the codes, which are modeled on the international Green Building Codes, and that so far no city in America has outright adopted the GBC. The committee expressed interest in making Altadena the first to do so.
There are many other issues that Land Use members will look at that affect Altadena's businesses and residents. A recent case, for example, is the mural on the side wall of the Patticakes dessert company on Allen and New York Drive, which was painted by a local artist and because it depicts desserts, pastries, and coffee, which constitutes an advertisement for the store, according to a letter from county planning officials to Patticakes' owners, Mike and Phyllis McLellan. That could be considered an issue that Land Use could take a closer look at to see if there are circumstantial situations that should be exempt.
As for other desired changes that Land Use members will consider, Haussler stated that north Fair Oaks would be ideal for housing mixed with retail, but that the county does not allow it yet.
"Also, on Lake Avenue by , it would be brilliant to have residential mixed with retail," he said. It would make it a better community and Lake is less steep there so I think we'd have more people walking. Right now zoning does not allow it, but I think it would bring a vibrancy that's needed, so for the commercial end, I really hope we can do that."

How Will AT&T's Merger With T-Mobile Affect Sierra Madre? (Sierra Madre Patch article)

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How Will AT&T's Merger With T-Mobile Affect Sierra Madre?

The announcement comes a month and a half after the City Council accepted preliminary plans from AT&T that will modify an existing cellular tower in Sierra Vista Park

By Justin Chapman, Sierra Madre Patch, 5/4/2011

AT&T's purchase of T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom would create the largest cellular carrier in the country, leaving only three major cellular companies in the country: AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint Nextel, as reported by The New York Times Sunday.
The multi-billion dollar deal comes on the heels of an ongoing local agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile. On Feb. 9, Sierra Madre Patch editor John Stephens that the City Council voted to accept preliminary plans from AT&T that will modify an existing cellular tower in in hopes of bettering notoriously bad cell phone coverage from the carrier within the city.
That tower modification proposal followed an agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile to allow the larger carrier to use the existing infrastructure for what is called a "co-location" design in lieu of constructing an independent, secondary tower.
The fate of the modification proposal remains to be seen as the transaction between AT&T and T-Mobile USA has not yet been approved and is sure to set off a regulatory battle in Washington over the effects of the deal on competitors and consumers.
Also of note, a separate but similar story unfolded almost two weeks ago when wireless Internet provider AT&T Mobility over Utility Users Taxes it improperly collected from city residents and turned over to the city.
Essentially, AT&T wants the city to refund taxes to Sierra Madre residents, and they're prepared to use legal action to seek a refund in the amount of $56,861.22. That amount, according to the claim, includes taxes collected from Sierra Madre customers of the company between Nov. 1, 2005, and Sep. 30, 2010. The claim is part of a massive action by AT&T requesting refunds from cities across the country.

Loma Alta Celebrates Its 60th--And Last--Year (Altadena Patch article)

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Loma Alta Celebrates Its 60th--And Last--Year

A 60th anniversary celebration was held at Loma Alta Elementary on Saturday

By Justin Chapman, Altadena Patch, 5/2/2011

Saturday's 60th Anniversary of celebration was a bittersweet day for the school's community. One of the two schools in Altadena officially slated for closure starting next year, the other being , by a  vote by the Pasadena Unified Board of Education, Loma Alta is one of the smallest schools in the district but provided a vital and effective service to students with special needs.
About 100 people turned up for the morning celebration, which was sponsored by the Loma Alta PTA and included a fitness walk, book sale, face painting, nutrition network, special Gummy Bear field day game booths, a reunion for Loma Alta alumni, a Loma Alta history scavenger hunt, dance contests and cheers from the Loma Alta cheerleaders, and a cover band that played after several people gave short speeches.
Students, teachers, parents, volunteers, principal Eric Sahakian, school board members Renatta Cooper and Ramon Miramontes, Dr. Elizabeth Pomeroy of PUSD, the president of the Altadena NAACP, and two Altadena Sheriff's horses and their caretakers enjoyed the festivities, celebrating 60 years of the school's history before it closes in seven weeks.
"We're going to make it a successful seven weeks," Sahakian proclaimed to the crowd before speaking to Patch about what the school's closure really means.
"It's really an indication of the education crisis that we're in right now," he said. "But as educators we always rise to the challenge. We are very resourceful in what we do. And what we do is for the community and the children. Just like a school board member just mentioned earlier, when one door closes another door opens, and there will be positive opportunities for our families and for our students, and they'll get a wonderful education in PUSD no matter what school they attend."
As for where Sahakian will go next year, he said he would love to stay in PUSD, and would be honored and humbled to stay in PUSD, but so far he's not sure what his next steps are.
Miramontes praised Sahakian's work for the school and stated with certainty that there will be a place for him in PUSD next year.
"I'm committed to making sure that Eric stays as an administrator in PUSD," Miramontes said during his speech. "Because what makes a school obviously is our students and our parents and our PTA and our staff and our community, but it's also the leader that keeps it going every day. And Eric, you've shown to us at PUSD that you need to stay with us. We're going to do whatever it takes to make sure you stay at PUSD. You're not going anywhere, buddy."
After his speech Miramontes told Patch that there will be school principal and assistant principal positions available for Sahakian, but that nothing has been decided yet as to where he will go.
"I have seen him and I have heard positive comments from parents, that he's a rising star in PUSD," said Miramontes. "He has the skill sets of a leader, of an educator that needs to understand and have empathy for parents and where children come from. He's patient, he's humble, he's a hell of a hard worker, and people like him."
He also said that a Pasadena charter school named Rosebud will move into the school site starting next year. The school board vote to close the two Altadena schools was very close, passing by just one vote, with Miramontes opposing the closures.
"I think it's more of that trend of marginalizing Altadena," Miramontes said about the school's closure. "There's too much focus on schools in Pasadena city proper, and we have to understand that even if we don't have a sufficient number of students, it's not something that's that much different from other elementary schools. And to not at least seriously consider closing other schools in Pasadena, I think we reinforce how Altadenans feel about PUSD. So even though I live in the city of Pasadena, I think the marginalization has some merit, and this is a case in point."
Teachers and parents echoed his sentiment and expressed their frustration with the school board's decision.
"I'm very upset about the closing of Loma Alta," said Connie Edwards, the Healthy Start coordinator. "I'm not happy. This is my second school closure. We worked very, very hard after they closed Edison Elementary School to come here, to open up a big family center, which used taxpayers' money, and we're losing all of that because our school is closing. I'm not a happy camper. But I'm happy that I can still provide services for our students that are in this community and that are in this school district, so it's sort of like a bittersweet thing."
Healthy Start is a program at five schools in PUSD that provides services to students and parents. Their motto is to "reduce the barriers to learning." It's a school-based program funded by a California state grant that serves the population of each respective school and deals with the socio-economic issues that they're presented with.
Their goal is to make sure each child is ready to go to school ready to learn by making sure they have their immunizations, physicals, dental checks, uniforms, shoes, books, school supplies, backpacks, and much more. They also refer clients out to local agencies to help families with some of these services.
Loma Alta's Healthy Start program will be moving to Altadena Elementary, which previously did not have such a program.
"Hopefully we'll be able to continue to provide services for students and families that need it," said Edwards. "We also refer clients to a variety of local agencies if there's any issue that they have, like if they can't pay their bills, or they need referrals for housing, food, we also do that."
Other teachers and parents were saddened but reserved about the closure of the school. Rosa Iida, a teacher who's been at Loma Alta for 16 years, said she started her teaching career here.
"I'm upset about the closure, but it's been coming," she said. "They've been talking about it for the last five years, and I guess it really happened this year. Most likely I will be teaching at another PUSD school next year. We're all getting transferred to the schools that are in-taking our children, so that would be Altadena and and probably others. As far as we know, the charter school that is coming in next year may share it with the preschool that's already existed here, but that's the last we've heard. But things can happen over the summer, things might change."
She said that although this is the last big community event here at Loma Alta, they have more end of the year events, such as baseball games, the Aquarium of the Pacific coming to the school in June, and the STAR program coming in to do hands-on science and math programs for the next two weeks, which she said the school is excited about.
"We're making the most of the last few weeks and spending all the money we have left over," she said with a laugh.
A couple parents spoke to Patch about their plans for next year. It seems most Loma Alta students will be attending next year. That's exactly what Denise Keyes, who has a child in 4th grade, and Felicia Lee, who has 4th and 5th graders at Loma Alta, plan on doing.
"It's a very sad day and I'm really upset about it," said Keyes. "I've moved on from it but it's a very upsetting moment. I mean, this carnival has kind of given closure. It's like a celebration, and I really wish that we could have stayed open. Next year my daughter is still going to go to school in Altadena, so I'm going to send her to Altadena Elementary."
Lee also called it a very sad day, "but also a joyful day because we're all out here excited, still celebrating the time we had here. But it is very sad. Next year my 4th grader will be attending Altadena Elementary, and my 5th grader will be graduating to middle school, so he'll be at ."
Camille Leal, a parent of a 1st grader at Loma Alta, is still undecided about where to send her son next year. She's even considering taking him out of PUSD and sending him to a private school.
"It's still a decision that we're planning to make," said Leal. "My son has only been here two years, so I think it's sad that they're closing the school but I haven't been here long enough to get a long feeling of the school here. But I have been here enough where I noticed that I liked it here. I felt very comfortable. It was very small, so I felt good about that, because I like the small community. And I think it's sad that they want to close schools because I think there's no reason to do so if the school is doing well with the students. So it's sad, but I have so many different feelings on it."
During his speech, Miramontes addressed the school's closure.
"Although we fell just one vote short of keeping this school open, we gave it a good fight," he said. "I think the community and the parents and the students had their day and their hour in court to argue why it should have stayed open, but it's still going to stay, at least on our watch, a school. And this is to honor the historical taxpayers in the community that contributed so much to keep this as a learning facility," adding, "with a great view."
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Muir High Students Check Out Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Altadena Patch article)

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Muir High Students Check Out Jet Propulsion Laboratory

A partnership between John Muir High School and JPL was finalized Thursday when 35 Mustangs shadowed scientists, toured the JPL campus, and learned about preparing for college

By Justin Chapman, Altadena Patch, 4/30/2011

Dozens of John Muir High School students in the Business, Arts and Media, and Engineering and Environmental Science Academies were treated to an informative, entertaining, and educational field trip to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory all day Thursday, where they individually shadowed a JPL scientist, toured the campus, and learned about preparing for college through such methods as applying for scholarships and starting their college essays early.
The event marked the first collaboration between JMHS and JPL in more than six years (even though the two institutions are less than three miles apart), and was organized by many individuals, affinity groups, and sponsors at JPL who coordinated and planned the excursion with officials and JMHS administrators. Everyone involved considered it a big success, including the 35 students who participated, and discussion is already underway to continue the collaboration between JPL and JMHS.
"I spearheaded the idea of bringing Muir students to JPL," said Erik Berg, Program Manager of ManTech International Corporation, an engineering firm that has a subcontract with JPL. "It was an idea I had, trying to get JPL more involved with the school. I've been marketing this around JPL to different affinity groups within the Diversity and Inclusion Committee."
He said that once Becky Campos, the head of that committee's Recruiting Subcommittee, heard about the idea, she jumped at the opportunity and took ownership of it, bringing all of the affinity groups together to make this day happen. They also have partners in the Pasadena Educational Foundation, such as Judy Turner and Cyrice Griffith, who were instrumental in coordinating everything from the school district side.
"So we have these two partners, this large collaborative team that came together," said Berg. "And it just came together nicely. We were hoping to have at least 30 students and 35 participated. We also have many more interested JPL people that want to participate in this, which is very exciting."
He said that the sponsors that were there that day were asking, "Can we do this again soon? The time that we had went by so quickly." The event lasted from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
"It's getting a lot of momentum and the school really needs support and opportunities like this for work-based learning, career exploration, and occupational experience, so we're hoping that we can replicate this with a new batch of students and maybe some new sponsors and continue to do it," Berg said.
One of the three assistant principals at JMHS, Charles Park, explained the Academy program at Muir and selected three students to speak with Patch about their experience that day. They shadowed JPL scientists and learned about things that can't be taught in the classroom, as well as the benefit of taking ideas and concepts from the classroom to the real world.
"I chose three students who usually don't get interviewed and aren't always the ones to be the spokespersons for our Academy," Park said. "But I think you also have a good cross section because these are students representing three Academy programs: Arts and Media, Business and Entrepreneurship, and Engineering and Environmental Science. Our academy is now only three years old, but our advisory board has really grown, and we have some JPL employees who sit on our advisory board who helped put this together."
For the most part, according to Park, the students choose the academy program they want. They have three choices if they attend JMHS. Every student has to choose an Academy program, whether they're in business, environmental science or engineering. By default if they don't get into their first choice, they get into their second choice, and each of the three assistant principals manage one Academy program.
Students are also required to take extra courses for the Academy, complete community service and internship hours, and finish a senior project about the environment at the end of the four year program. After all that hard work, they receive a medallion stating that they graduated from their intensive specialized Academy program.
"The scientist I followed was in Project Support," said 16-year-old Francisco Ortiz, a sophomore at JMHS who is in the Engineering Academy. "She sets up business meetings for her clients. I learned how organized the whole system of JPL is, and how they work. I wouldn't have learned in the classroom how to build the things they do and how precise they have to be. There can't be any mistakes. Any mistake can cause a big effect to the project so you have to be precise."
He added that he still needs to think about what profession he wants to pursue, but he plans on looking into his options as much as possible.
Veronica Serrano, a 17-year-old senior in the Environmental Science Academy, said she learned a lot by following a JPL scientist who specializes in design.
"I learned about everything from space shadows to the fact that JPL is planning to go to Mars soon, which was amazing," said Serrano. "The scientist I followed is designing everything that's going to go up to Mars. It was incredible to see. I definitely want to pursue this as a career. That's why I was interested in the Academy at Muir, actually. I've been in the program for three years."
Jaleyah Lathal, a 16-year-old sophomore in the Business and Entrepreneurship Academy, said she followed a scientist who works in a field that is not her chosen career choice, but she learned how connected all the different professional fields are.
"I followed Bill Chapman, who's in Logistics," said Lathal. "He was involved in the process of sending out the spacecrafts. What I learned here that I couldn't learn in the classroom or the Academy is how much the science and engineering within spacecrafts has to do with the business aspect. There is a financial need to support projects: how to build spacecrafts and who represents it and that sort of stuff. The science side of it is not my chosen career choice, but it's an interest. But I'm definitely interested in the business side of it."
They all agreed the experience was quite an eye opener for them. But it was also an eye opener for scientists, organizers, and others at JPL. At the end of the event, six JMHS graduates who now work at JPL spoke to the students about how they got to work at such a fun and important place.
"There's a partnership now that's been formed between Muir High and JPL," said Berg. "And we understand that JMHS is the most diverse and the most impoverished of all the schools in PUSD. I think this school has the greatest need in the district. And it's only two and a half miles from JPL, which is another thing that opened a lot of eyes for the JPL people when I would discuss these facts. So the plan currently is that this partnership is going to continue to exist with John Muir High School."





Altadena Garbage Contract Delays: New Service Likely to Start in Fall (Altadena Patch article)

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Altadena Garbage Contract Delays: New Service Likely to Start in Fall

County officials explain the delay as routine

By Dan Abendschein and Justin Chapman, Altadena Patch, 4/29/2011

A new public garbage service contract scheduled to start in July will now likely not begin until sometime in the fall, according to county officials.
That contract would make Athens Services the franchise provider for Altadena trash service would result in a monthly charge of $18.06 per household for basic services, according to county documents.  Currently, Altadena is serviced by various private providers with different rate structures, but the Athens contract would force residents to get their service through the company.
Natalie Jimenez, a spokeswoman for the County Department of Public Works, said that there isn't any significant reason why the department has not yet brought the contract to the County Board of Supervisors.
The internal review process took longer than expected," said Jimenez, who said she expects the issue to come on to Board of Supervisor's agenda by mid-May.
Jimenez said that because the contract's start would also be delayed, the county will have time for public outreach on the new garbage service.
Initially, county officials had withheld the terms of the new contract, but revealed the details after an Altadena Patch public records request.
The $18.06 monthly service charge will cover once a week automated trash collection and recycling service with each customer receiving one 96 gallon refuse container, up to two 96 gallon green waste containers, up to two 96 gallon recyclable containers, and a 64 gallon manure container. The second containers and the manure containers are available only by request, but don't raise the price of service.
Additional 96 gallon containers beyond that go for $5 each and additional manure ones for $10. Customers will be billed through the mail on a quarterly basis, and there is a 25 percent senior discount.  Homes on streets that are difficult to access could cost $22.57 per month.
Annual rate increases would be done by a formula that is heavily dependent on the Southern California portion consumer price index (CPI) that is used to measure cost of living increases. There could also be an increase depending on the cost of diesel and on the fees charged by the waste facilities that Athens used  (the formula that would be used can be viewed at right).
The terms of when there would be an increase were set by county officials when they put out a request for proposal for the contract.
The contract would run for seven years with county officials having the option of extending the contract on the same terms for three additional years.
Other features of the new trash contract will include:
  • Three on-call bulky item collections per year in unlimited quantities, including certain electronic device
  • Collection of excess green waste that is bagged and bundled ten times a year
  • Semi-annual electronic waste and clothing drop-off events
  • An annual curbside cleanup event in unlimited quantities, and free container roll-out services for qualified customers.