Come January, the Warwick City Council and corner office at Warwick City Hall will have a different makeup. 

The jury is still out about how the new council with two freshman members and a new council president will interact with a new mayor. For now, after Monday’s council meeting, it appears that it will be less contentious than in the past. 

One of the big ticket items during the meeting was an ordinance introduced to help regulate outdoor donation bins in Warwick. The ordinance sponsored by Councilman Jeremy Rix was strongly supported and praised by many members of the council. Councilors Tim Howe and Ed Ladouceur signed on as co-sponsors.

The legislation came after some charitable collection bins became an eye sore and in some cases hazardous, due to being overfilled with donations, and close to the road. According to Rix, one of the biggest issues with the bins, is that many are too close to the road and prompted people to use them for trash. The ordinance would require bins to be located further from the road.

Rix explained that the purpose of the regulations in the ordinance is so they are simple enough for non-profit and for-profit organizations to follow and simple enough for the city to enforce. 

The new legislation would create fines of $100 a day for violations, and have specific requirements that the owners of the donation bins need to follow. Rix said fines would be earmarked for a fund to help self sustain the program. He said that having the funds going into a fund outside the general fund will also give the public trust in the fact that fines aren’t a revenue generator for the city.

Howe, who represents Ward 3, made a passionate plea for the ordinance citing a specific example of what has happened without the regulations.

“This is why I asked to become a co-sponsor,” Howe said as he showed images of an overfilled donation bin at the Citizens Bank Strawberry Field Road Branch. Howe explained that the items at the drop off site overflowed to the sidewalk forcing people to walk in the street.

“It was no longer a donation bin. It was a garbage receptacle.” 

Outgoing council president, Steve Merolla had high praise for both the legislation and how his colleagues worked together to get it done. 

“It was nice to see everyone working together to come up with a solution that everyone could agree with,” Merolla said. “I wish you guys luck in the New Year with collegiality and doing things the right way. It was really nice to see.”

The ordinance would require:

• The owner of donation bins must obtain permit from the city and display permit sticker on the bin;
• Must have permission from property owner or property owner designee to place donation bin on the property;
• Must display name, contact information, and address for owner of bin on front of the bin;
• Collection bins must be regularly emptied out 
• Owner of bins must pay $50 initial application fee, $25 for renewal fee each year and $10 a year for the permit fee;
• Owners of the bins must be in compliance with any notices from the city or will be fined.

The current council will have one last meeting on Monday, Dec. 21, slated to begin at 7 p.m.