Collecting the trash complaints

In response to the complaints registered at a meeting of Sanitary District officials and nearly 100 residents at the Lawrence Yacht and Country Club on Nov. 15, a management roundtable is being created to ensure that problems are addressed and eliminated.

Board of Commissioners Chair James Vilardi, said he will be attending village meetings throughout the district in the next few months to the sanitary district to communicate what will be done. “Our goal is to pinpoint our service issues and correct them,” Vilardi said. The roundtable will include district superintendents and commissioners, supervisors and truck workers, Vilardi noted.

Complaints at the Nov. 15 meeting ranged from trash bags left in the streets, often ripped open, garbage cans removed from the residence and left anywhere along the route and can left without tops which resulted in bags that remained in the can becoming wet when it rains. The district which serves 50,000 residents and 18,000 homes employs 100 workers who collect trash twice a week and recyclables once a week.

“Residents complained that they were fearful to speak about their concerns due to possible retribution,” said Lawrence resident Margaret Carpenter, who dutifully took notes for the Lawrence Association. Community members frequently considered the truck workers “disrespectful and intolerant,” Carpenter added and noted that residents also emphasized the danger of the trucks operating in reverse.

A few recommendations came out of that meeting and a subsequent smaller gathering of residents, Sanitary District and Lawrence village officials met on Nov. 22. Workers wearing nametags, adding another foreman to supervise the routes and holding the collectors more accountable for their actions were three primary suggestions.

However, Nat Swergold, the district’s attorney for nearly 40 years, said that nametags are not needed as the district tracks every truck and the three-man crews hardly change. “Everybody gets assigned a specific schedule. Nobody trades routes,” Swergold said. “The nametag business is just plain silly.”

Frank Argento, one of the district’s commissioners who attended both meetings said that he and other district officials heard the resident’s complaints and are aware of their concerns. “Dealing with as many homes as we do it’s not easy to satisfy everyone, but by and large we do a good job as any other business.”

Regarding having two foremen supervise routes, Argento said that is in the process of being evaluated and discussed with the union. Lawrence Mayor Martin Oliner noted that district management is needed on the routes and thinks the residents quality of life is being negatively impacted by the poorer service.

Swergold notes that some of problems stem from the backyard or side yard picks up that are made. “the level of complaints are related to the size of the house, the smaller the house the less complaints, the larger the properties the more complaints we have,” said Swergold, who added that by law, backyard or side yard pickups are done by workers collecting the trash in a large plastic barrel and then dumping into the truck. “To the extent that the problems exist they are being addressed,” he said. “If we don’t know about it, we can’t address it.”