Oshkosh staff propose four 10‑hour sanitation workdays; about 6,500 customers would change service day

City staff presented a proposal to shift Oshkosh’s curbside sanitation and recycling collection to a four‑day schedule of 10‑hour workdays, saying the change would balance daily workloads, improve operational efficiency, and create a regular weekday for fleet maintenance.

"We're looking to move our sanitation recycling collection operations Monday through Thursday—four 10‑hour day schedule," the presenter said during the meeting, summarizing the main elements of the plan. Sanitation manager Larry Wilkins later gave the estimated customer impact: "approximately 6,500 service day changes would take place." Wilkins added that 100% of current Friday homes would change days and about 40% of current Thursday homes would be affected.

Staff told the council the current five‑day routing system has not kept pace with development since about 2009 and that route boundaries are uneven: "Monday is the high growth area and it's become very lopsided," the presenter said, noting that Monday routes are also farthest from the disposal location—an operational pain point the proposal is meant to address.

The department explained operational benefits: a more balanced daily workload, improved ability to absorb future growth, more predictable deployment of staff and equipment, and a recruitment advantage from offering longer weekends for some employees. A Friday open day would provide time for Central Garage to reserve bays and perform scheduled fleet maintenance without disrupting collection.

Staff acknowledged tradeoffs. Wilkins warned that change management will be challenging and that a substantial customer education campaign would be required: "Change is hard. It's a little different for everybody." The presenters said they would only move forward after outreach and workshopped materials for residents; a target start was discussed as "January 1 of '27," but staff emphasized the date is not firm and requires additional planning.

Council members questioned holiday handling and start times. Staff said holidays would shift collections within the business week (e.g., service would run Tuesday–Friday when Monday is a holiday) and that daily start times would move only about a half hour earlier to align with transfer‑station hours (proposed daily window roughly 6:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.).

Next steps: staff plan multiple resident engagement events (town halls or remote drop‑ins), social media campaigns, direct notifications for affected routes, and coordination with communications and engagement staff. No formal vote was taken on the proposal during the meeting; staff said they would return with implementation details and an outreach timeline.

Ending: The council heard the proposed plan and asked follow‑up questions; staff will continue route analysis and resident outreach before bringing any formal ordinance or operational change back for approval.