Debate over trash collection is causing a big stink in Anoka as haulers sue

Trash haulers say Anoka is violating state law by forming a committee to study what it would take to implement a city-run garbage collection program, while simultaneously carrying on contract negotiations with companies that serve the city now.

ACE Solid Waste Inc. and Walters Recycling & Refuse Inc. jointly filed a lawsuit last week in Anoka County District Court after the Anoka City Council on June 17 approved a resolution to create a Solid Waste Collection Options Committee. That vote essentially put the north metro suburb on a dual track as it explores the idea of moving from a system allowing individual customers to pick the trash hauler of their choice to an organized system, in which the city would dictate the residents’ hauler and set the terms and services provided.

“That is what forced us to say OK, you can’t do this,” said Mike Moroz, president and CEO of Walters Recycling & Refuse, pointing to a state statute that says an options committee can be formed only after a minimum 60-day negotiation period ends or talks reach an impasse. Neither has happened, he said.

“It’s sad we had to come to this. It’s not something we want to do,” Moroz said.

Complicating matters is that early voting begins Friday on a question to amend the city charter to require that voters — not the City Council — give their approval before any changes can be made to the trash collection program. The question will appear on the ballot during the Aug. 13 primary election after a citizens’ group turned in a petition forcing the opportunity to vote on the issue.

If the measure passes it would then give voters in November the power to decide if Anoka has the authority to institute a city-run program or must let customers retain the ability to choose their own hauler. A yes vote in November could make all matters moot.

That’s why the idea of creating an options committee and forcing haulers to submit contract proposals before the result of either vote is known is premature, said Cassie Merrick, an attorney representing the haulers.

“We want the city to follow what statute says,” Merrick said. “We want this put on hold before bells are rung that can’t be unrung.”

No court action has been scheduled.

Anoka city officials said they were aware of the lawsuit, but could not comment.

A similar scenario is playing out in Mounds View, where voters in April approved a charter amendment requiring their permission before the city could institute organized collection. Haulers have also sued, accusing the city of rushing the process and ending the negotiations. A Ramsey County judge has set a settlement conference for January and a court trial date of March 31, 2025, court records show.

Anoka has considered moving to organized trash collection since 2015, and the issue resurfaced again about a year ago. The city currently has four haulers licensed to provide service.

Haulers were invited to City Hall to learn about the idea in July 2023, the suit says. A few brief meetings between the parties were held in early 2024, but none constituted “a legitimate negotiating session,” the suit said.

Then in May, haulers said they received word from the city that the 60-day window for negotiating a contract had passed, the lawsuit said. Since then, the parties have agreed proposals are due before an Aug. 5 City Council meeting.

Meanwhile, the city continues to move ahead with its Solid Waste Collection Options Committee, which next meets July 3, according to agendas posted on the city website.

City officials acknowledged in recent meetings that haulers have negotiated in good faith. By forming an options committee, City Council Member Jeff Weaver said the city is headed down the same road as Mounds View.

“If we are going to follow the playbook out of Mounds View, let’s remind everybody that they are still in the middle of a lawsuit,” Weaver said at the June 17 council meeting. In referring to Anoka, “I would not be surprised if litigation followed.”

Four days later, the haulers filed suit.

Moroz said the suit is about more than Anoka or Mounds View. If the court does not force Anoka to “pump the brakes,” other cities contemplating switching to a government-run trash collection system will follow the same action as the two cities have, he said.

“We can’t let cities flagrantly violate what we believe in,” he said. “If they go to a single hauler, business is taken from us. In what other world can that happen? That is 100% why we are suing the city.”