SLIPPERY ROCK — Borough council on Tuesday voted to form a fact-finding committee concerning bulk trash and related issues.

Council will appoint most of its members on Aug. 6. Council Vice President Christy Tichy, who is the chair of the borough’s garbage and recycling committee, was appointed Tuesday to be a member.

The committee will have one borough council member, one member of Slippery Rock Development, borough residents, landlords, borough business owners and representatives from Slippery Rock University. It will not have more than 15 members.

Last year, council voted on a three-year garbage contract with Tri-County Industries, which included changing the date of bulk trash pickup from May, the same week that SRU has its graduation, to March.

Since May, several residents and landlords have come to council urging it to change the date back to May. Councilman Itzi Meztli, who supports that change, hosted a community meeting last week to discuss the issue.

Tichy said the committee hopefully will come up with a decision as to whether or not to change the date and report back to council. She said it is not likely that the meetings will be public.

Meztli said that the meetings should be public. Tichy noted that the committee would include diverse members of the public.

“That is the public,” Tichy said.

Mayor Ken Harris said he was in favor of the committee, saying that there are facts about the issue that have yet to be discovered.

“I think it could be useful,” Harris said.

Tichy agreed with Harris. She said that issues such as how the borough dealt with bulk trash in the past should be looked at.

“I think there’s more information that we need to get,” Tichy said.

Meztli made a motion to send a letter to Tri County owner Ed Vogel asking him to change the date of the bulk pickup back to May. If that is done, he said council will not have to waste time forming a committee.

However, the motion never came to a vote.

Meztli said it would have made more sense if a committee was formed before the pickup date was changed.

During public comment, resident Mike DeVault said that he favors moving the day back to May.

“March ... doesn’t make any sense,” DeVault said.

He said that the garbage contract increased by $90,000 last year, but claimed the amount of service decreased.

“We’re getting less service for more money,” DeVault said.

He said that he will run a write-in campaign to try to get elected to borough council.

Frank Monteleone, a landlord, said that a number of people are upset by the date change. He said that he would have liked to see some council members resign.

Resident Tom Holmes said that he often picks up trash that is on the street. He said that there has been more trash on the street since the date changed to March.

“It’s just not working at all,” Holmes said.