The city of Kennesaw is one of a few cities with an ordinance that requires that all residents within the city limits establish and maintain city sanitation service. Residents are not allowed to choose their own company; they must select the city service. While we can all understand the reason for requiring that citizens and homeowners maintain their homes, how far will the city go when a citizen doesn’t have their service? You might just be amazed to learn that you can be charged the service even if y
ou call and cancel it. You can then find yourself charged with fines, placed on probation and facing jail time. Think it can’t happen in Kennesaw? Think again, Watchers. It has!
Lisa Lynch, a long time resident of Kennesaw, worked for the city for eleven years until 2008. While seeking new employment, Lisa, was unable to keep her garbage service. She called the city to make sure they knew her situation. She left messages that went unanswered. She wrote emails with no response. She continued to try to communicate her plight to the city, explaining that she simply could not afford the service. Lisa previously worked in the Public Works department, and she understood that all residents and homeowners must register and maintain trash service with the city. However, she was in a situation where she just could not afford to make a different decision. She had already removed her internet service and had only a cell phone for calls. She was struggling to make her house payment and keep the water, gas and electric active.
Over the course of two years, Lisa continued to attempt to reach out to the city and explain that she could not afford their service. Her billing continued and the violations were taped to her door. In August of 2011, the police made a first visit to her home but she was not there. Having finally found a job, she was working to get caught up on past due bills, including keeping her home from foreclosure.
The following morning, as she left for work, she noticed a black police truck with lights on following her. The officer asked for her license and registration and indicated this was a routine traffic issue. She indicated that she had stopped at the stop sign.
Lisa states ” When she got my license in hand, she said ‘Ms Lynch, I’ve been looking for you for a long time. I’ve got something for you’. She turned out to be code enforcement. She walked back to her truck, came back to my truck window, and immediately handed me a citation and asked me to sign it. It was a citation for not having the City sanitation service. I asked her why she stopped me pretending it was a traffic violation stop. (no answer to that). The citation was completely filled out except for my drivers license information. She already had my tag number and everything on the citation.”
In October of 2011, Lisa went to court for the first time for not having city sanitation service. She met with the city solicitor, Randall Bentley, who explained that she had three options. Her first option was: pay the delinquent billing for service of $500.97 plus a $100 deposit for establishing service and he would drop her fine to between $200 and $300. Her second option was to go before the judge, but he explained she would still have to pay all of that plus the full $1300 in court fines. Her third option was to simply move out of the city limits of Kennesaw. She explained her situation to him again but he said there was nothing he could do. He told her to think about her options and gave her a continuance until November, 2011.
This pattern continued two more times, each with Lisa insisting that she did not have the money. She offered to make payments but the city was unwilling. She explained that she was not trying to get out of her obligation, although she never understood why the city had nothing in place for a hardship exception.
In February of 2012, Lisa went to court. She was placed on probation for six months which added another fine of $44 per month to her obligations that she was struggling to meet. She was told that she has to pay all of the back billing $500.97 within the probation period, plus the deposit and the fines and keep up with the $44 per month plus her partial payment on the fine of $40.
She began to visit her probation officer in February of 2012. Each visit she made required that she leave work early, missing more pay. She also had to submit to drug tests regularly which cost her another $15 each time. She was told that she could not visit places that have a nightlife, such as a bar and could not consume any alcohol during the entire time she remains on probation. She explained that she had no money for that luxury, however, she was appalled that she was being treated like a criminal for not having trash service!
Because she now has the added expense of her probation fine, which is the only thing keeping her out of court, she cannot make any payments at all towards her other billing. Although, her household gas service was cut off, she made her appointment each month and paid the $84 but was barely able to keep her head above water on all of her other bills.
In June of 2012, Lisa met again with her probation officer and saw the judge in court. She was given only two options this time around; community service or jail. As of this writing, she still does not know if she will be placed in jail which will cost her the job she has, the home she has worked so hard to keep, and still will do nothing to help her pay off the back billing to the city for the sanitation service when she was out of work.
Sanitation violations are handled by code enforcement. That is the division of the police department that handles all code violations like people who do not take care of their yards or place signs on the city right of way. They handle much more than that; we do not mean to diminish their workload. Does this punishment mean that having your grass too tall can also put you in jail? How about people who have rental properties and the yards are overgrown with weeds?
Should the city go this far by requiring a sanitation service with only the city? And if so, should there be some hardship exceptions built in? During this economy, should cities work more with their residents to help them overcome these types of issues by accepting payments rather than demanding it all up front? Was this an unusual case or is this the way all sanitation violations are treated?
Get involved, Kennesaw! We CAN make a difference!
My place of employment allows me to bring my one bag a week over to the dumpster in the parking lot, and doesn’t charge me. Am I considered “the private hauler” that the city will not allow since I do this? Trash is not sitting around gathering up in piles, causing the place to look run down or anything. I am hoping to get this story out to enough people, and that maybe I will get lucky enough to find an attorney that may be willing to take this case before I go back to court on July 17th.
Lisa if everyone took trash to the office then those dumpsters would be over filled. Household trash would also add to the number of rats at your place of employment with all the food scraps and other things pest love to eat. Leave it alone the battle has been fought before and people like you lost it. Pay for you service and save we taxpayers some money and help keep our city clean.
This is completely ridiculous! The city is obviously targeting her and/or attempting to make an “example” of her. If she is able to dispose of her trash legally without using the city’s monopoly trash service and her property is kept up to city standards then they have no right to treat her like a criminal. Probation?! Jail time?! Drug tests?! Telling her she can not visit a local buisiness establishment and drink alcoholic beverages?!!!! All because she can not afford to pay the city’s arbitrary garbage tax? What country is this again?
What next everyone dig their own well let sewage spew into septic tanks which in turn polute the ground water from which the well water comes from. Part of living in a city is you have city trash service . Driving to a dump and paying the $7 fee every time is a higher cost then the bill the city sends you every month and you save on gas as well. I can see now people dumping trash where ever because they do not have this service but because they do and pay for it they will dump the trash in the can the city provides. This is not podunk county this a city in a large metro area with a large population. Sanitation is critical to keep us all healthy and safe.
More people should cancel their service in Kennesaw to protest! If I lived within the city limits and I had service, I would! You should be able to choose who you use and what you pay and the government should keep their greedy noses out of that decision. If you can’t afford service, you should be able to cancel your service as well! I don’t have trash service because I take mine to work with me and I live in unincorporated Kennesaw. Nobody will ever force trash service on me, city limits or not!
Jo never say never many counties require you to have a trash service that they pick. Not sure if Cobb is one but if not I am sure they will be in the future. It works by zoning out the areas and each contractor bids on the zone , the winner then becomes the service you use and no other. Once again Never say never it will bit you on your butt everytime.
At the very least the trash pick up service should have various levels of cost.
A single person who fills up one of the green trash barrels and takes it to the curb one time every other week should NOT be paying the same as a faimly of 6 who fills up two a week.
If you use more of the service then you should pay more, if you use it on a very limited basis then you should pay less.
One monthly payment does not fit everyone, there should be level of service and you pay according to usage.
OK people the city does have in place a price range for what amount of service you need. One can one price 2 cans another. They also have recycling which I hope all use to make our county and state the best it can be. The only real problem I see with trash is the number of people living in single family homes. OK I understand a uncle or aunt or parent but when you have 4 or more adults with 4 or more children in a small 3 bedroom home and the one little can they have runs over and into the street week in week out and they never try and get the second can or more . The lady in question above should pay her trash bill just as she must pay all bills that come with living in a home. Trash is no different then water or electricity which we all need in a highly populated area for health reasons. My family has lived in Kennesaw since Kennesaw was founded , yes they where poor at first but always found the funds to pay for what ever needs they had. Yes Trash pickup is a need not a want. You live in the city you you pay for city services. So many non-profits to help people like her all she need do is ask.
The city should not bill people without their consent!!! That is the other big problem I have with this situation. I understand all that you are sayin on each of your posts. I paid the ridiculous bill each month when I made enough money to pay it. I now make half what I did, and have cut off and cut back on everything there is to cut off or back on. No home telephone, no internet, no tv service, no goin out to eat, no going shopping. I’m getting food from my parents church because I can’t even afford groceries. I don’t mind driving to the dump once a week since I am by there regularly, and it has not cost me anything yet to take my trash there. Just like my work lets me take one bag a week to the office, has not cost me anything. If I had the money, I’d pay the ridiculous price of $26 per month for once a week pick up. Other people I’ve talked to in other areas only pay between $8-$15 per month for the same service. I’ve asked for help, and that hasn’t helped me at all with any of my utilities. I’ve even asked the city to do away with the billing they did without my consent or knowledge, and I can start from scratch. They refused. So I was put on PROBATION for not having the service, paid probation fees, had utilities cut off during this period, and now I’m threatened with COMMUNITY SERVICE AND/OR JAIL TIME for not having the service???? They have not gone after any other residents or shall I say, city residential property owners, for not having the service, so why am I being targeted??? I said I’d pay the monthly service if they would work with me, and I’m sure it would always be behind just like all my other utilities. I simply DO NOT HAVE $500.97 for a service I didn’t use and was not aware that I was being billed for.
Hell ya she needs to pay it!!!
We need that money to build the biggest “Cement Pad” in the South East at Swift-Cantrell Park!
By the way, who is the numskull that thought that one up & if you approved it you should be equally embarrassed!
Obviously, someone with the knowledge and capability needs to step up & help this woman.
This is a tragedy!