LETTER TO THE EDITOR: City Council did not approve reduction in trash pickup, and residents deserve a real plan

Dear neighbors,

I share the frustration many of you are feeling about the rollout of major changes to trash removal for our city. I'm also disappointed by the mayor's continued attempts to pass the buck and point fingers at the City Council to shift blame for this decision.

To be clear, the City Council never approved this decision (see details below), and only the mayor has the legal authority to change course.

Whether you think this change is a bad idea no matter what or potentially has some merits, the fact that Medford's trash removal policy has gotten so much negative attention in national and local news and was joked about on national broadcast TV (NBC's Late Night With Seth Meyers) is a colossal communications failure and undermines the trust of residents.

I call on everyone to continue advocating to the mayor for a full explanation for this proposal, a plan for how we move forward, and a clear outline of what the city's options are at this point.

The City Council unanimously passed a resolution last week calling for a real plan, public engagement, and answers to the many questions and concerns residents have about this decision.

Then, the mayor announced a virtual public input session on December 15th at 6 p.m., an in-person public meeting on January 26th, and a Community Feedback Form. I hope these represent the beginnings of a real plan and the robust public outreach that the mayor’s administration told the Council and residents would happen before any decision was made.

Channel 4/WBZ/CBS Boston contacted me about this, and I stated the following:

"Mayor Lungo-Koehn promised that any potential decision to cut back weekly trash collection would only happen after the city conducted robust public outreach and achieved clear benchmarks. That never happened.

"Residents who oppose this decision are worried about the negative impacts on quality of life. Residents who support efforts to reduce waste and control trash removal costs that hurt our city budget are worried that this botched rollout means the city won't make progress on those issues.

"I'm disappointed that the mayor is pointing fingers instead of leading with a clear plan to earn the trust of residents and make sure that Medford is ready for such a big decision."

Additionally, I have posted the following correction to the false information the mayor shared in her Facebook video about the Council’s role in this decision:

"To state very clearly and prevent misinformation, the City Council did not approve this service change in July 2023. That is false, and I ask the mayor to correct this in this post and all future posts.

"I appreciate that the mayor is speaking more about her administration’s decision to reduce trash service in July 2027. Engaging residents in the robust public outreach that her administration promised would happen before a decision was made is essential, and I encourage residents to get involved now that this work is starting.

"The Council voted to allow for a contract term of more than 3 years, as required by MGL Chapter 30B, Section 12(b). The records from the July 25, 2023, meeting state this clearly in item 23-382. Here is the exact transcript of the vote:'[Nicole Morell]: Yes, I believe we need a roll call vote, either right. So we have a motion from Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Vice President Bears. And again, this is to authorize the mayor, the city, the mayor, to enter the city into a 10 year contract. This is not a vote from the council on the contract. This is giving the mayor the power to enter into a contract. So on the motion of Vice Councilor Caraviello, seconded by Vice President Bears to approve. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.'

"The mayor’s administration communicated to the Council that any change to weekly trash collection was an option within the contract and would only be possible after extensive public outreach and when the city was meeting benchmarks for composting and other waste reduction approaches.

"All waste removal contracts are longer than 3 years (10–15-year terms), so if the Council had not authorized a contract term longer than 3 years, it would have meant not having a waste removal contract at all, which is obviously not an option.

"Councilor Collins was the council representative to the Solid Waste Task Force and helped lead us through our meetings about the contract extension. She clearly stated that the rollback surprised even her, especially in the manner it was announced when she said in the 11/18/25 City Council meeting: 'I had no idea that this was how the administration was planning to roll out this change because so many of our conversations were really guided by the fact that any major change involving our recycling, our compost, or our trash pickup would need to be preceded by such thorough outreach into the community to really get people on board.'

"Medford residents deserve a clear plan to earn the trust of residents and make sure that Medford is ready for such a big decision. I hope this post is a first step towards that real plan to address the clearly justified concerns residents have about this decision."

Sincerely yours,
Zac Bears
Medford City Council President