West Point City Council has talked about it for years, and it’s looking like the days of being able to leave any kind of trash on the curb for pick up officially are numbered.

City Manager Ed Moon wants West Point to move to having a convenience center open for collection of recycling and bulk trash items, ideally by Oct. 1.

In another move meant to eventually save the city money in its trash pickup, a pilot program to test how 50 city residents do with putting their trash in a roll-out cart for pickup – like the service currently available in LaGrange – should start up by Sept. 1 and last six months.

For now, collection of limbs, leaves and yard waste with a sway car will remain the same, as will collection of household garbage. West Point uses about five employees to collect trash from residents’ houses; residents aren’t required to put their garbage cans on the curb. Depending on the results of the pilot program with the roll-out carts, Moon eventually would like the city to issue each resident a roll-out cart for household trash.

Many commercial properties and new subdivisions in West Point already use wheeled carts, but much of the city does not.

Moon says he hopes the changes will help West Point get bulk trash items – furniture, mattresses, appliances, tires and other items – off the streets.

“We’ve got to get a handle on it,” he said.

New residents coming to West Point are complaining, and current residents have complained about the situation for years.

Instead of leaving those items curbside, a convenience center proposed on Boy Scout Road at the old city landfill would be open weekdays for residents to take their bulk items as well as items for recycling. Residents wouldn’t be charged for leaving trash and recycling, but a fee would be charged for construction debris, appliances, tires and batteries.

Moon said Harris County, with which the city splits a border, wants to participate in the convenience center and may share in the cost of running it.

It would cost West Point bout $50,000 to erect a building at the old landfill, put in a driveway and utilities, and install a fence, gate and buffers.

Running the convenience center would cost about $82,000 annually and bring in $34,000 in annual revenue, which is close to what it costs to operate the trash pickup program now. Moon said money could be saved, depending on Harris County’s contribution. The ability to assign some of the five employees who pick up trash to other tasks also would save money.

Moon proposed the center be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays but council, including Mayor Drew Ferguson IV, said it would like to see the center, which would be staffed by at least one employee, open later in the evenings or on Saturdays.

“People are working from 8 to 5 and not taking out their trash,” Ferguson said. “I put myself in that category. You’ve got to make it easy if you want people to use it.”

If council approves the trash proposal Monday, the solid waste ordinance would have to be changed, followed by a public education campaign and construction of the convenience center. Once all that’s done, the city could begin tighter enforcement of its ordinances to cite people leaving trash on the streets.