Pickup Problems Leave Trash Piling Up In Sterling Heights Neighborhoods
STERLING HEIGHTS (WWJ) - Residents are talking trash in Sterling Heights after a scheduling hiccup has temporarily left some neighborhoods without garbage collection.
Mayor Michael Taylor says a new trash contractor Rizzo is set to start Monday, but the current contractor, Water Management, has had some hiccups in its final week.
Taylor told WWJ Newsradio 950's Charlie Langton that, in some neighborhoods, the trash is piling up. The phones at City Hall have been ringing off the hook with calls from unhappy residents.
"Waste Management hasn't been picking up some of the yard waste for residents; they've been missing entire neighborhoods, they've been co-mingling the trash and the yard waste," Taylor said. "So we've got a lot of complaints and it's been a bit of a problem."
Taylor said Waste Management has admitted to the city that they failed to staff adequately, saying that's why residents are seeing an interruption in service.
What's being done about it? Taylor said a lawsuit isn't out of the question.
"We pay Waste Management a lot of money, so I'm not gonna to say we're going to do anything, take legal action just yet — but we certainly don't want to pay for a service we're not getting," Taylor said.
Taylor said, beginning Friday, Sterling Heights residents who still have trash and/or yard waste piling up should call the city's Department of Public Works at 586-446-2440. The DPW, he said, will take care of pickup for the time being.
