TOWN OF LOCKPORT — Modern Disposal will begin refuse pickup in the city Oct. 10, officials confirmed Monday.

Delivery of 17,000 refuse and recycling carts to all residential and some commercial properties will start next week, Dawn Timm, the city’s refuse and recycling adviser, said. Cascade Engineering is bringing the carts to Lockport in nine tractor trailers on Friday; GM Components is allowing its west plant to be used as an assembly area where wheels and lids will be installed on the carts. From there, finished carts will be delivered to city homes and businesses Monday pickup route first, then Tuesday route and so on.

That’ll take an expected 10 to 12 days, and by the time the Friday-route carts are delivered, Modern will already be at work picking up people’s refuse and recyclables.

“Finally, we’re ready to roll. It’s been a long time coming,” Mayor Michael Tucker said.

“Three weeks before the election, how’s that for timing?” he added wryly.

As of Oct. 10, city workers will no longer pick up residential or commercial trash, Tucker and Timm said.

Initially there was talk of Modern taking over daily routes one or two a week; that plan was scuttled in favor of an all-at-once rollout to private pickup.

One expected glitch in the changeover: Properties on the Friday collection route may not have their refuse and recycling carts by Oct. 14, the first Friday that Modern crews will be servicing them.

Not to worry, Timm said; anyone who doesn’t have their carts should just set bags out to the curb. The carts will be delivered well before the following Friday.

Modern will have extra employees out on the streets the first week, to field new customers’ questions and advise them on the ins and outs of the new cart-based pickup system, according to Tucker.

Also, the city has set up a special hotline phone number, 439-6752, at which residents can leave a message indicating any questions or concerns about the new collection program. Calls will be returned promptly, Timm said.

The hotline number, the how-tos and rules of cart-based trash disposal will all be listed in literature being placed inside every recycling cart; property owners are encouraged to retrieve the literature as soon as they get their carts.

“Modern is committed, the city is committed, I am committed to making this a seamless transition for people,” Timm said.

In that vein, the new rules of trashing —throwing away more than fits in a cart, recycling, cart placement and the like — will be “relaxed” for the first few months, she said.

The variable-cart refuse system requires property owners to select a small, medium or large refuse cart, use only it to contain bagged trash, and pay for pickup service accordingly. To have excess trash picked up, owners will have to purchase special bag tags at City Hall; the anticipated cost of a tag is $2 and the maximum weight of a bag is 30 pounds.

The tag requirement won’t go into effect until Dec. 5, Timm said.

The city previously announced it would grant property owners one free refuse cart trade-in for size during the first year of the program. It still will, but Timm said people will be encouraged to give the cart they’ve got a several-month “try out” before trading it up or down. Supplies of extra carts in the various sizes are tight, she said.

Separately, City Treasurer Mike White said Monday that the new refuse billing system is still being set up. The city will send bills to property owners twice a year for Modern service. The first bills, set to be sent in mid-December, will be prorated to reflect 2 1/2 months of private hauling service.

A second bill, reflecting nine-plus months of city pickup this year, will be sent in October. The city will charge a flat fee to all properties that received city pickup from January through Oct. 7; the fee isn’t confirmed yet, as the expenses of city service are still being tallied, White said.

The Common Council pulled refuse services out of the 2011 city budget, in anticipation of the changeover to private collection sometime this year, so the money to pay for labor, equipment and landfilling fees wasn’t raised from property tax. The city fee will be collected to repay the general fund.