By Howard Packowitz

NORMAL – A proposed ordinance requiring landlords in Normal to offer onsite recycling for their tenants is turning into a debate whether government should issue mandates or continue to ask for voluntary efforts to increase recycling.

Town staffers presented the draft ordinance at a public meeting Thursday. Landlords running multi-family housing would have to provide a place for recycling on their properties and hire private contractors to pick-up recyclables each week, starting in August of next year. Violators would pay $100 daily fines.

Councilman Scott Preston said everyone should have access to recycling, but mandates should be a last resort.

“Everybody who rents in the Town of Normal is going to pay the price for this,” said Preston.

Councilman R.C. McBride said tenants he and Mayor Chris Koos have talked to over the years are willing to pay for the service.

“This is about providing as equitable a level of service as we possibly can for all our residents,” said McBride.

He noted the town is also trying to reduce the amount of waste heading to the landfill under terms of McLean County’s 20 year solid waste plan.

The McLean County Landlord Association, representing 20 to 30 property owners in Normal, is planning to oppose the ordinance when it’s presented for a town council vote, now expected at the July 2 meeting.

“It’s just another cost,” said Matt Powell, the landlord association’s vice president of government affairs.

“Anytime the city or the Town of Normal increases our costs, of course, that cuts into our profits. People think the landlords are getting rich, but then you’ve got the government passing taxes and everything else, an ordinance on you, and then you’re really not (getting rich),” said Powell.

Powell said he owns 37 apartment units in Bloomington-Normal.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]