Springfield residents who leave their garbage carts out on the street a little too long could be facing a fine.

Springfield City Council has approved a fine for garbage carts left on the side of the road well after the scheduled trash pickup, with penalties ranging from not less than $110 to not more than $550.

“We’re not going to fine someone for leaving it out there the day after,” said City Manager Brett Bennett. “It’s those who leave it out there and never pull it back.”

Bennett also acknowledged there have been problems with the scheduled pickups from the city’s solid waste contractor, Waste Management. He said the last three or four months have been bad, but Waste Management has been as good a solid waste contractor as the city has had.

Bennett said the company recently has been quick to let the city know if there is a problem with a truck or if pickups will be delayed.

“If we could develop some way to let citizens know that trash pickup is a day behind, that will resolve a lot of problems,” he said. “There is no good solution to this animal.”

Erin Phillips, Springfield’s community development director, said city officials are working on the zoning map to try to clean up county zoning on some of the city’s parcels. The city council also has to approve a replacement for Rick Rafter on the Downtown Development Authority. Rafter’s resignation leaves the DDA one short, but Bennett said it will not slow down the process.

The city will have training for the DDA members next week, and Bennett encouraged city council members to have potential DDA candidates attend as well, so they won’t have to travel out of town to attend required training later.