During a Feb. 8 special meeting, Bath Borough Council gathered to hear residents’ thoughts on recycling and the increased number of cars being parked in people’s yards.

According to borough Manager Brad Flynn, the residential trash pickup cost in 2022 was $270 per year per household. Waste Management was contracted to pick up the borough residents’ trash and recycling.

In the 2023 bid, JP Mascaro was awarded the 2023 contract to just pick up trash with no recycling pickup for $375, plus a $75 addition from the borough to pay for administrative costs, First Regional Compost Authority fees and trash bill handling. The total trash hauling, minus recycling, cost per resident is $450.

Borough officials explained recycling was dropped from the 2023 trash hauler bid to reduce costs to the taxpayer.

There were numerous suggestions, such as the borough creating a recycling center or recycling drop-off site in Bath, allowing residents to hire their own trash/recycling hauler, more aggressively collecting delinquent trash fees from residents who have not paid their trash pickup fee and speaking with other municipalities to learn what they are doing.

Resident Bobby Siegfried offered a number of suggestions and was offered a seat on the borough’s environmental steering committee.

Flynn said there are talks with JP Mascaro to possibly place a dumpster in Bath that would be for residents who want to recycle. The program could require an official recycling card or other identification item to participate in recycling with the resident sharing in the cost.

In other business, council Vice President Frank Hesch made it clear the parking of vehicles in yards is a conversation only. No decisions would be made about the issue.

Hesch attempted to explain when residents park their cars in their yard, they pick up dirt, mud and debris that can get washed into the borough’s sewer system. He said the borough could get fined by the state if prohibited debris ends up in the drains.

Hesch added having mud and grass in the streets looks messy, and the borough office has received complaints from residents. There was a suggestion to permit how many cars or vehicles can be parked in a yard.

A number of residents pushed back. A general consensus was that the idea to regulate the number of cars a person can have in their yard is unwise and not workable.

One resident said he was a veteran who fought for the nation, and not letting him park in his yard is a violation of his rights to use his property.

A resident noted a lot of grass goes into the street by a cemetery in Bath. Another resident brought up the dirt parking by the baseball fields that tracks mud on the adjacent street when it rains. The question was how that would be treated by the regulation.

After the meeting, Flynn clarified the issue is residents parking in their yards leads to ruts in the lawn and dead grass. These residents are making a driveway in their yard, which violates the zoning ordinances in Bath.

He added five residents who have makeshift driveways in their yard have been notified to complete a permit to have an approved driveway in their yard. Flynn said two of the five have requested a permit.