Another Tuesday night, another Ames City Council meeting.  Another Trent Rice reporting...wait, what?  Anyhoo...

A pretty run-of-the mill meeting this evening, just a couple of items we're tracking.  The council will hear from Public Works staff on a plan to elimate the twice-yearly free garbage day at Resource Recovery.  The free days are not well attended, cost the city about $70,000, and cause a lot of garbage to be hauled to the Boone County Landfill. 

The only other item of note, at this point, is a proposed letter of support for the city's participation in the "Blue Zone" program.  This is a joint project between the State of Iowa and Wellmark to fund 10 Iowa cities' efforts to become the healthiest in the state, and utimately make Iowa the healthiest state in the nation.

8:15P:  The city council votes to eliminate the two free garbage days.  Public Works staffers say the program is an "all hands on deck" staffing day and is being abused.  They say "enterpising" residents will hitch a trailer to thier trucks, charge neighbors a fee to haul away garbage and take it to Resouce Recovery for free.  Staffers also say they'll see the same trucks five or six times during the free days.