Cohen and Ward's Last Council Night Tonight, New Trash Fees and Informative Trash Meetings

Now that Waste Management has been awarded the city's next trash contract that begins June 1, there's lots to know and understand about the provisions of the new service and the new tiered pricing costs residents face.

Additionally, City Council is feting two outgoing members tonight at a meeting that's expected to begin at 6:30 and end by 8:30 p.m.

1. Outgoing City Council members Portia Cohen and Mitch Ward will be recognized for their service at tonight's 6:30 p.m. City Council meeting where new members David Lesser and Amy Howorth will be sworn in. Cohen, who opted not to run for second four-year term and has been a public policy consultant working for the 53rd Assembly District since January, joins Ward, who couldn't run again after serving the eight-year maximum. 

2. With Planning Commissioner David Lesser voted into a city council seat, the council is expected to approve a declaration that Lesser's seat is vacant at tonight's council meeting. Lesser resigned on March 10, after his election victory was certified.  Typically, such a vacancy would be filled immediately, however, since the city is close to its normal board and commission seat process, city staff is advising that council fill the seat during that process, which begins later this month. Lesser's term was set to expire on May 31.

3. The Manhattan Beach Unified School District board will honor outgoing board member at its Wednesday, March 16 6:30 p.m. meeting. Howorth won her bid for a city council seat at the March 8 election. A reception for Howorth will follow the meeting.

4. Residents should look for an orange envelope containing a Proposition 218 notice from the city in their mailboxes sometime after Friday, March 18, and a separate mailer from Waste Management that will ask residents to choose a cart size for the new trash hauling contract that takes effect on June 1. The cart selection cards should be in the mail around March 23 and need to be returned by the late April due date. If Waste Management doesn't receive a card back, they will default to providing a 64-gallon cart and the resident will be billed at that cart's rate.

5. If you'd like to learn about how the new trash hauling will work and at what cost to you, you'll want to attend one of two public meetings on the subject, March 30 or April 7, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers at 1400 Highland Ave. The new trash contract that begins June 1 calls for a tiered pricing structure based on the cart size you use; the days of paying one price for all you want to trash are gone. Get one of these dates on your calendar.