The Logan City Council has asked for a garbage rate study to decide if rates will have to go up and if service can be returned to the Fountain Place plaza.

The request came following an intense discussion with local businesswoman Diana Barnett, who had complained to the council that she wanted city garbage returned to her places of business and would pay extra to get it.

"I am back again about my garbage pickup," Barnett said at the recent meeting.

Several months ago, Barnett complained to the council about her service being cut off after she had chosen the city service and purchased three expensive dumpsters the city's garbage truck used.

Things went fairly well until her service was cut off when the city council decided it was not cost effective to provide garbage service to the handful of businesses at the mall which utilized city garbage pickup.

Barnett was told that a city statute gave the council permission to cut off her service, but when she examined the statute she could not find anything in it that gave the council permission to discriminate against her.

"So, I am requesting you pick my garbage up," Barnett said, explaining that Waste Management's service was far more expensive than the city's and she would pay double what the city had asked originally to get city service again.

Barnett said she believes she is being discriminated against, considering she paid her city service fees and was not getting the same services out of it that downtown businesses get.

"I have a $6 million dollar investment in the city of Logan," she said. "I pay over $25,000 in business and occupation taxes and I have a right to the same services as everyone else."

City Attorney Kendal Partlow said the authority came from an ordinance and not from a statute and that the city was not required to go to the mall to pick up garbage.

"We don't pick up all commercial garbage downtown, either," Mayor Serafino Nolletti said and Councilman Don Browning said some other businesses downtown chose to go with Waste Management's pickup services.

Partlow said wear and tear on the city garbage truck — which already needs to be replaced — was the final deciding factor in cutting off garbage pick up at the mall and that the decision only came after Waste Management recently increased tipping fees at the dump. Because of that increase, Partlow said the city was losing money by going to the mall for only a few customers.

"We want you to succeed," Partlow told Barnett. "But the city can't lose money so you can make money."

Browning asked for a Garbage Rate Study to see if the service could be made feasible.

City Accountant Jeff Valet said it is costing the city 20 percent more on dump fees due to rate increases from Waste Management. Councilman Greg Click said that Waste Management holds a monopoly on garbage service in this area. Barnett said she would be happy to pay more for city garbage service as she believes Waste Managements rates are unreasonable compared to what she had been paying the city.

"I'd be happy to pay twice as much," Barnett said, adding that she believes if enough businesses at the mall signed up for city services it would not only be cost effective, it could help the city to replace its aged garbage truck. "I think we can work together on this," she added, noting that not all the businesses at the mall knew that the city even provided garbage pickup in the past.

Barnett also had questions about city surcharges. She said she believes the Logan fire and police departments were very professional and do excellent work and she said she has no problems paying fees to support them.