St. Paul City Council set to vote on trash emergency

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The St. Paul City Council is set to vote Wednesday on extending a state of emergency issued by Mayor Melvin Carter over the city's trash collection.

Trash trouble in St. Paul

What we know:

Mayor Carter announced the emergency on Monday, ahead of an April 1 deadline, to ensure trash collection continued in the city.

Collection was in question after the city council blocked FCC Environmental Services, the garbage hauler set to take over city-wide collection, from using newly-purchased property off Randolph Avenue for its truck yard.

City officials initially believed the truck yard conformed to zoning regulations. However, after a challenge from a neighborhood group, the city council approved an appeal, halting the process. Mayor Carter said that vote put the city in jeopardy of violating its seven-year contract with the FCC Environmental.

The backstory:

FCC Environmental plans to build its St. Paul headquarters on the Randolph property near the Mississippi River. The site would be used to store trucks, fueling, and maintenance.

However, the neighborhood group worried about the impact of the truck yard.

Carter's emergency temporarily suspended zoning restrictions for the Randolph Avenue property.

Garbage collection vote in St. Paul

Vote needed:

By law, Mayor Carter's emergency declaration can only last three days. It went into effect on Tuesday at midnight.

A council vote is needed to extend the emergency beyond three days.

What's next:

The vote is scheduled to take place during Wednesday's meeting. It appears the council has the votes to keep the emergency declaration in effect.

The zoning committee is then set to review the site plan at a meeting on April 10.