Council hears complaints about missed garbage pickups; staff says contractor working to improve service

Clinton council members pressed staff on repeated missed garbage pickups by the city’s contractor, Waste Connections, and asked for better communication to residents.

Council member Bill said he has heard “more phone calls and more comments from people about garbage collection than almost as long as I’ve been in office,” and told colleagues that consistent pickup is one of the core services residents expect. Bill said some households had been missed multiple times.

Roger, a city staff member, said the city had followed up with the contractor several times and that Waste Connections has attributed recent problems to new drivers, vehicle breakdowns and bad weather. He said the contract has “about four more years” remaining on what he described as an approximately six-year agreement. Roger told council the contractor sometimes notifies staff when a late pickup is expected but that notice can arrive late in the day.

Council members asked whether other haulers could replace Waste Connections; staff said bids earlier produced few respondents and that the contractor handles the city’s roughly 30,000 weekly household pickups, a volume smaller competitors may not be able to handle. Council discussed telling residents to leave cans at the curb if a scheduled pickup is missed and using the city app and other alerts to inform residents of delays.

Staff said some missed pickups reported to the city were due to access problems — a truck could not reach a dead-end street because of a blocking vehicle, and in another case a can was inaccessible because it sat 10 feet inside a yard. Roger said Waste Connections sometimes picks up the next morning when crews are behind but that the city will keep pushing the contractor for better performance and communication. The council directed staff to continue pressing the contractor, to use the city alert app to notify residents when pickup delays occur, and to follow up on contract details.

No formal motion or vote was taken on the issue during the meeting.

Clarifying details - Contract length: staff described the contract as originally about six years; about four years remained on the contract as stated at the meeting. - Service volume: staff stated the contract covers approximately 30,000 household pickups per week.