By Tom Gilchrist
For The Advertiser
DAYTON TWP. — Robert Adams, who lives along Edmund Road in Dayton Township, said the last “legitimate” pickup of trash in his neighborhood was Dec. 16.
He and others came to Monday night’s township Board of Trustees meeting hoping to clean up the problem.
“It’s obvious that the trash man hasn’t been by, but what happens when he doesn’t come and pick up the trash for two or three weeks?” Adams, one of about 20 people in the audience, asked the board.
“Do we still pay this guy to not pick up the trash?” Adams said.
“We haven’t (paid) in the past,” township Supervisor Robert Cook replied. “They take it off our bill. They take it off the township’s bill.”
Lingering ice and heavy snow this winter have prevented Waste Management Inc. trucks from collecting garbage every Monday in Dayton Township as scheduled, according to township leaders.
“You can’t put (garbage trucks) out on ice — that’s all there is to it, and we all know that,” Cook said. “This has been an extremely bad weather situation for us. This has never happened before, going from an ice storm one week to 18 or 19 inches of snow the next, and to some more ice today.
“Do I want things to change? Yeah, I want to be notified (when trash pickup occurs by Waste Management). Don’t tell me something in the morning and then change it in the afternoon. That has to be straightened out.”
Cook and township Clerk Stacy Phillips told the audience they’ve been trying to get confirmation from Waste Management about when its trucks will next collect trash. Cook said the latest information is that trucks will pick up township garbage on Monday, Jan. 20.
Phillips said she emailed a Waste Management sales representative in the Saginaw area this week.
“I asked her if they could not service us this week, is it possible to see a reduction in our bill for the month of January?” Phillips said. “She responded that she was going to get hold of the route manager and see if they could pick up our trash this week, or see what was going to happen.”
Township resident Tom Shaw suggested the board consider refunding some money to taxpayers — who pay fees to help finance the township’s collection contract with Waste Management — if trash continues to await pickup in some areas of the township.
“If it goes into four weeks, you’re going to have to reflect a payback to the taxpayers,” Shaw told the board. “Why don’t you get on the county (Road Commission) about Shay Lake Road? It was terrible. It was a two-track (path). A one-track.”
Township officials need to meet with Waste Management on the situation, according to Trustee James Satchel.
“We’re paying these guys $9,000 a month (for trash collection), so we’ve got to do our part,” Satchel said.
Township Treasurer Eleanor Kilmer said some residents have asked her if they’ll receive rebates due to the delay in trash collection.
“I said ‘It’s less than $2.50 a week (per customer),’” Kilmer said. “I don’t think we can go through and give everyone $2.50.”
Cook said Waste Management trucks arrived in the township Jan. 8 and 9 to pick up some trash, or attempt it.
Township resident Rick Seidler said he spoke with a Waste Management driver in the township on Monday.
“He did make an attempt to pick up garbage, but he couldn’t get the truck on the road,” Seidler said. “He was actually taking pictures to send to his boss, to prove that he couldn’t pick garbage up. But they did try.”
Township resident Henry Harris said he has seen up to 15 plastic garbage bags in one pile in recent days.
“If dogs, cats or animals get it, who’s responsible for getting that picked up?” Harris asked.
Harris suggested the township explore enacting a local ordinance governing storage of trash prior to pickup.
“Some people have decided that the edge of my yard is a great place for their garbage,” Harris said. “I’m looking for some reason, or some way, we can compel people to put out garbage in a safe manner to control rats, raccoons, possums or whatever.”
Cook praised the county Road Commission workers for clearing as much snow as they did during the storm.
“For having no more people than they have, they did a fantastic job,” Cook said. “You can’t complain on that.”