93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
Columbia will not hold a vote on roll carts in November.
The city council on Monday night failed to get it on the ballot by a 3-3 vote. Mayor Brian Treece and councilmembers Karl Skala and Pat Fowler voted against it. Ian Thomas was not present.
Skala says the anti-roll cart crowd got automated trash service banned in 2016.
“It takes more than just a reversal, in my opinion, by the city council to undo an initiative petition. It requires another affirmation, or maybe an affirmation of a change,” Skala said.
Fowler says the special election in November would have cost the city $200,000.
“That $200,000 represents something we have been unable to do in the last five or six years that we’ve been talking about this,” Fowler says. “In April, that election doesn’t carry that expense.”
The city has cut back curbside recycling services, pointing to a severe staff shortage.
