Leighton Township residents are operating under a new deal for recycling services.
The Leighton Township Board Thursday night voted to approve new conditions for curbside recycling with Arrowaste Services of Jenison, which bought out previous waste service Farmer’s Disposal.
Under the new conditions, residents will not have to buy a 96-gallon receptacle to be placed at the curb. The township will pick up that expense. However, all residents will be asked to continue with the county-wide agreement to pay $50 per year per household, which has been approved on the ballot in 2024.
Township Clerk Rachel Fennema said she was personally pleased with scrapping the smaller recycling receptacles, which were too easily swept away by high winds and too easily cracked and broken.
Fennema said the curbside service now is being made available to 2.537 homes in Leighton Township. She said she examined other agreements between residents and recycling providers in the area and found Leighton’s contract to be more consumer friendly. For example, some other providers pick up only once per month at virtually the same cost.
In other business Thursday evening, the Township Board:
- had a lengthy discussion but made no decision on a proposed Trailer ordinance, chiefly regulation of storage and use of campers. Included are rules for quiet hours from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily, parking no closer to 20 feet from lakes or streams, rules applying to units from May 1 to Nov. 1 each year, prohibiting placement of the units on vacant lots and capping stays of camping units in one place to 14 days.
- Agreed to pay A-1 Asphalt $58,913 for paving the township hall parking lot.
- Approved a food truck ordinance assessing an annual fee for each business between $75 and $100.
- Agreed to pay Hartleb Insurance $43,357 for renewal of EMC insurance covering the township, fire department and Green Lake sewer assets.
- Was told by Fire Chief Matt Weston that buoys removed from Green Lake seem to be in questionable shape and new one may need to be purchased next spring.
- Learned from Weston that the Leighton Fire Department has experienced an increase in calls by 133% over the past seven years, with the jump in medical calls driving that trend.
