The Huntington Board of Public Works and Safety, acting on a request by board member Shirley Powell on Monday, March 1, will revisit the trash pick-up decision during the first board meeting of May.

Powell, who has been absent from board meetings for an extended amount of time due to illness, asked to discuss Mayor Steve Updike's announcement made on Feb. 11 to move garbage pick-up to twice a month from weekly. Powell said she wants to make sure that the decision is still necessary to save money.

Updike said he would like at least two to three months to see how the new trash pick-up schedule works out, and Powell suggested giving it 60 days. The board settled on the first week of May.

Updike said he didn't want to change the new format until a service fee is instituted, but added that the institution of a fee would not immediately bring back weekly trash pick-up.

If a $10 fee were to be collected for services, an estimated $750,000 would come in to the city each year.
Clerk-Treasurer Christi Scher predicted that the city of Huntington will be in the red by $800,000 at the end of 2010.