Southgate City Administrator Dan Marsh provides an update on the problems the city and other communities are experiencing with Priority Waste.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
SOUTHGATE – An update on the ongoing challenges with Priority Waste, including contract violations and possible fines, was provided during the Aug. 7 City Council meeting by City Administrator Dan Marsh.
“We are aware that Priority Waste is consistently failing to complete routes and bring out the replacement carts when they are requested on a timely basis,” he said. “Last week we did give notice to Priority Waste that we intend to use the remedies that are in the contract, all the ones that are available to us.”
Marsh said that on Aug. 5, an ordinance officer began surveying the city to determine a summary of where the contract violations were occurring.
“We did forward that information to Priority, and today we received notice that the company is challenging the fines that we have presented to them, and so our city attorney is working to resolve those issues right now,” he said. “We are continuing to stay on them, and continuing to track the failures of contract violations and the failures to complete the routes on time.”
Marsh said that each community will have its own unique waste removal terms in its contract, which will determine what remedies exist.
“I can look at a neighboring city, and they might have a completely different fine structure put in there,” he said.
City Attorney Ed Zelenak said the city has many potential remedies.
“They may be the only game in town, but they bought a big concern with a lot of communities, and each community stands on its own and the contracts stand on their own,” he said. “But the cities together might use this leverage to get them to get their act together.”
Mayor Joseph Kuspa said residents often ask him why the city doesn’t switch to a different waste hauler.
“The reality of that situation is it takes three to five months to really ramp up going to another company because these assets, such as garbage trucks, take many months to get new garbage truck in,” he said. “They have actually started employing some rental trucks lately, so I think there is an attempt on their part, but it’s still not where it should be.”
Kuspa said that because of all the garbage trucks that Priority Waste received from Green for Life that were out of service, it created a situation from which it is hard to catch up.
The mayor said that most of the trash is at least getting picked up before the next service week begins.
“We’re working with them because it makes more sense to try to work it out with them than to end the contract, because then residents wouldn’t have any service for weeks if not months while trying to find someone else,” Kuspa said. “We’ve reached out to other companies just to see what the temperature is, of any emergency service we might receive from other companies, and at this point we haven’t got anything concrete back from them that they would be able to help.”
The mayor said the city is looking at all different aspects of the problem, but, in reality, the city is hoping that Priority Waste gets the manpower and the assets it needs to start servicing its community customers.
Zelenak said that Marsh, the administration and the mayor’s office, the Building Department, and the Police Department are making sure that all the notifications are there to impose penalties if and when it is necessary.