A handful of outraged citizens laid the trash on the table for State College Borough Council last night.

Originally, council was to consider approving a one-page notice informing citizens of the changes that will occur when the borough moves to mandatory curbside refuse pickup.

The notice also specifies that people with physical disabilities (due to age, poor health, or as defined by the American's with Disabilities Act) may be exempt from curbside collection.

But in the course of the discussion, borough residents expressed their distaste with council's action to approve the ordinance without first holding a public hearing and demanded the issue be reopened.

"On January 12th I sent a letter to you that this very useful service should not be stopped and there should be a public hearing on the matter," said borough resident Indu Mulay. "Many of my friends and neighbors also sent such letters. But it seems that these letters were ignored."

Refuse service is modified at the convenience of the collector, but at the inconvenience of the resident, said borough resident John Lowe.

"This would have a significant negative impact on the town," Lowe said.

Borough resident Guy Rindone said cities with curbside refuse pickup have problems with airborne trash.

"We as residents are willing to pay the extra costs to maintain the quality of our neighborhoods," Rindone said.

Council also considered changing to mandatory curbside pickup in 1988 but decided against the option following petitions from residents.

Council member James Meyer defended the actions of a divided council.

"This is more of an internal issue of how the garbage business is working today versus 1988," he said.

Meyer emphasized the potential savings for the borough as a result of reduced labor costs.

Requiring curbside pickup would make the process more efficient as the job would be done with one-man trucks as opposed to working in teams.

Council member Jean McManis echoed Meyer's position.

"If this were a bitter failure and State College became the litter capital of the world we could go back to the old system," she said.

Following input from residents, a council vote on the approval of the notice for distribution resulted in a 3-3 stalemate. Council president Richard McCarl was absent from the meeting.

"I believe since we are at a standstill at the moment we must delay implementation," said council member Tom Daubert.

He motioned that council delay execution for two months or until an agreement on the changes can be reached.

Again the vote was 3-3.

Finally, Meyer motioned to delay the original March 1 implementation date two weeks to March 15.

Meyer reasoned the delay would provide the borough with enough time to notify residents before final changes go into effect.

Realizing without action the ordinance would go into effect without prior notification to the community, Daubert voted for motion and it passed 4-2.

Council will re-examine the initial business of the night when all members are present at its Feb. 18 meeting.