“Being part of this community for 37 years, I’ve been given a lot and met a lot of great people, and I saw this as an opportunity for myself and Casella to give back in a small way,” said Pero, about the Rutland, Vt.-based company’s proposal to empty the trash at the city’s nine parks on a daily basis and throughout the downtown business district once a week.
Pero said he read that Batavia was going to a “take in, take out” policy and contacted City Manager Rachael Tabelski to extend Casella’s services at no charge.
“In my opinion, it takes time for the community to understand that new policy, so that’s kind of why I reached out to Rachael and the city,” he said. “Also, Casella is all about community involvement … and felt that this would be a nice gesture, and it’s a chance to let residents know that we are there for them.”
According to a memo dated May 17 from Acting Public Works Director Ray Tourt to Tabelski, in exchange for Casella servicing the parks on a daily basis and downtown on a weekly basis, the city would provide trash bags for the parks and allow Casella to repaint the trash cans in the parks and place a sign on the receptacles, stating “Serviced by Casella Waste.”
Tabelski, in turn, drafted a resolution that is on Monday night’s City Council Conference Meeting agenda that would forge a partnership between the city and Casella through Nov. 30, with the potential for two one-year renewal periods after that date.
Should City Council agree with the plan, the resolution would be forwarded to its next Business Meeting in June.
Pero sold his Trash Away business (that he owned with his brother) to Casella in September 2019, and in the process, accepted the general manager position for Casella’s Batavia Division. He said that seven trucks, operating out of an office on Apollo Drive, handle refuse collection in the division’s two counties – Genesee and Livingston.
Also, on Monday’s agenda:
- A draft resolution that would authorize using $70,000 from the appropriated parking lot reserve fund to pave the parking lots on Center Street, Lions Park (off Wallace Street) and Canale (west of 240 Ellicott St.).
The respective costs are $50,000, $12,500 and $7,200 for a total of $69,700.
In a memo to City Council dated May 15, Tabelski indicated that resurfacing of these lots is part of a strategic plan to maintain parking lot and sports surfaces. Paving of the Williams Park lot is scheduled for fiscal year 2022-23.
- Several event requests for this spring and summer, including:
-- Just Kings BBQ (May 29 at Williams Park);
-- Blue Pearl Yoga in the Park (June 1-Sept. 30 at Centennial Park);
-- GLOW OUT 5K run (June 10 at Centennial Park) and parade (June 12 at Batavia City Centre parking lot);
-- Home to Home Concert (July 3 at Jackson Square);
-- Genesee Symphony Orchestra 75th anniversary kickoff (July 17 at Austin Park).
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On another City of Batavia matter, the Planning & Development Committee this week recommended changing the zoning of a parcel at 211 E. Main St. from P-2 (Planned Development) to C-3 (Commercial) to accommodate the demolition and subsequent construction of the GLOW YMCA/United Memorial Medical Center’s Healthy Living Campus.
PDC Chair Duane Preston said a letter was sent to City Council, which will vote on the zoning change at a future Business Meeting.
Council had referred the matter to the PDC for its opinion after receiving a request from the project manager to change the zoning so that it falls in line with the two other affected properties.
