Tyrone Borough Council has heard complaints regarding garbage service in the municipality at recent council meetings. Concerns about removal and billing have been brought to the attention of Borough Manager Nathan George and the entire council.
A resident of West 20th Street, Ruth Kaup, complained she was frustrated with the scheduling and the untimely pick up of garbage by the borough’s current hauler, Waste Management. The resident made the complaint on February 9 after several snow events contributed to delays in garbage removal. Borough staff explained the situation to the resident and advised Kaup they would follow up with the garbage removal company.
At the March 1 council meeting, George made note of a recent meeting between the borough and Waste Management. George then drafted a follow up letter which was sent to the company.
“We met with them, both a regional official and a higher level official and feel the matter will be resolved in the future,” George told The Daily Herald.
In the letter, George thanked the garbage company for being willing to discuss the events which occurred this winter during the large snowfalls. He pointed out the borough was not pleased with the initial problems. However, George noted Waste Management’s response as being quick and efforts were taken to correct problems which came to the attention of borough officials.
George also made note of one of the contract provisions between the borough and Waste Management. He wanted to outline the procedures which should be taken when there may be a delay in garbage pickup. Those situations include mechanical breakdown, extraordinary weather or other cause which would lead to the likelihood of any delay or nonconformity to the collection scheduled.
The contract states it is Waste Management’s responsibility to notify customers by radio announcement and/or via the newspaper of any decision to require collection to be at curbside only in the event of one of the qualifying situations.
George said the company also agreed to notify customers of other schedule changes such as deer season for example. The borough manager said the company was willing to incorporate predetermined schedule changes into customer’s bills as it would be feasible.
However, pickup problems were not the concern of a landlord who attended the most recent council meeting. Ellen Wallace from Tyrone Township addressed council about several billing problems she has had with the company. She and her husband Chuck had contacted the borough about the issue and she noted staff including the borough’s secretary had been trying to work on the issue.
Wallace also presented several collection notices addressed to her and her husband for properties they do not own in Tyrone. She also stressed she believed the addresses on the notices were non-existent properties in the borough. She was concerned the collection notices could hurt her and husband’s credit rating.
The borough agreed to look into the issue and set up another meeting with Waste Management which the Wallaces would be invited to attend.
“We have a meeting scheduled with Waste Management this morning,” said George. “The Wallaces have been invited and we will go over all the issues including the possibility of non-existent addresses to resolve the matter.”
Waste Management became the borough’s trash hauler last year and according to borough officials have used billing records provided by the borough for purposes of creating a database for trash removal and billing.
According to its Web site, Waste Management, Inc. is headquartered in Houston, Texas and serves approximately 25 million residential and two million commercial customers in North America. Regionally, the company is associated with North Huntingdon Hauling in Westmoreland County.
