Emanuel, Inspector General Spar Over Garbage Collection Audit
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel is defending what the city's Inspector General has suggested is stonewalling of his office's efforts to audit Chicago's new grid-based trash collection system.
WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports Inspector General Joe Ferguson said Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Charles Williams walked out of a meeting at which Ferguson was demanding figures to verify the Emanuel administration's claim of $18 million in annual savings by collecting trash on a grid map, rather than ward-by-ward.
Emanuel, IG Spar Over Audit Of Trash Collection
The mayor said the issue isn't about transparency, but timing.
"Today, there's about 312 trucks out. If we didn't do grid garbage, there'd be 360 trucks out. And as I said – and I told Charlie to tell him – once it's fully implemented, come in, audit it, so we can see and realize the $18 million in savings," he said.
The mayor's just not ready to provide those numbers yet.
However, even the $18 million in savings estimated by the mayor's office would be much lower than the $60 million in savings Emanuel promised when he ran for mayor in 2011.
Emanuel also defended his decision to make Ferguson – who has questioned city programs before – reapply for his job, saying it was the recommendation of a blue ribbon panel.
