North Huntingdon residents, officials, upset over trash collection problems - TribLIVE

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North Huntingdon’s new garbage collector, facing complaints about failing to pick up residents’ garbage, promised it will be caught up with collections on Saturday, a township official said.

The upper management at County Hauling of Rostraver promised North Huntingdon officials to get all residential trash collected this week, Jeff Silka, township manager, told residents on Thursday.

The transition from Waste Management to County Hauling “has gone a lot harder,” than expected, Silka said. Responding to complaints about County Hauling has taken about 85% to 95% of the staff’s time, as they forward calls to the hauler in Rostraver. Silka asked residents to be patient.

County Hauling is “fielding calls, responding to misses and are confident the issues will drop dramatically week after week as drivers learn their routes,” said Ro Rozier, spokeswoman for Nobel Environmental, which owns County Hauling.

Feedback from residents is critical in drivers learning the nuances of the route, Rozier said, adding that the “trash is sometimes placed for collection in places our drivers may not see.

County Hauling, which took over from Waste Management on Jan. 1, was the lowest of three bidders when it was awarded the four-year hauling contract in September. County Hauling bills the 12,000 residential customers directly and is not paid through the township.

Cindy Gongaware of Deborah Drive said her garbage remained in her driveway for four days, even though her neighbors’ trash was picked up.

County Hauling placed a Dumpster at the township public works garage for residents whose trash collection was missed, but Gongaware said she does not want to be hauling trash in her car.

“I’m a little bit upset about this,” said Gongaware, wife of District Justice Wayne Gongaware, who did not speak at the meeting.

Jason Cinti of Braden Court said residents need to realize “there is always a bump in the road,” with new businesses. He said his garbage was collected on the day it was scheduled.

Carly Simonetta of Spruce Drive said County Hauling picked up her trash the day it was scheduled, although it happened at night.

Dan Striffler of Botanical Way said County Hauling never collected his trash when it was scheduled and did not collect it for three days.

“I called their help line four times and four times they promised the service and four times they reneged on that service and never provided it,” Striffler said.

North Huntingdon does have legal recourse if problems persist. The township could revoke the performance bonds that County Hauling was required to post, Silka said.

“If the expectations are not met, we can default on the (four-year) contract,” Silka said. But, declaring County Hauling in default of its contract, it that likely would result in legal action.“

Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, [email protected] or via Twitter .