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A new Youngstown-run garbage collection program went well on its first day, city officials say
YOUNGSTOWN
The first day for the city-run residential garbage collection went smoothly, Youngstown officials say.
“It was just another day for trash collection,” Mayor John A. McNally said of Monday. “We haven’t received any phone calls in the mayor’s office complaining about the service. It was quiet, which is a very good thing.”
Garbage was collected Monday on portions of the North and South sides with pickups today on the rest of those two sides of the city.
“Everything was on schedule,” said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the public-works department who is overseeing the garbage- collection program. “The collection was done on time without problems.”
The garbage-collection schedule didn’t change, he said.
Waste Management Inc. had collected garbage from the city’s 21,500 residential users for two years.
But when the city sought a new contract with a private garbage hauler, the price jumped from $2.3 million a year to $2.8 million. That led the city to decide to collect garbage with an estimated operating cost of $2.2 million annually.
The city hired nine drivers, and all but two worked for Waste Management on the same routes in Youngstown, Shasho said.
Those workers are making $15.50 an hour. The city also hired seven temporary laborers at about $10 an hour so each of the eight garbage trucks has a two-man crew.
The temps will work while the city uses eight trucks it rented for $104,000. The new trucks only need one person, Shasho said.
The city purchased eight new garbage trucks for $2,455,200. Four of the trucks will arrive May 31 with the others being delivered June 10, Shasho said.
Garbage from the rented trucks can only be dumped into the rear of the vehicles.
The ones the city purchased can have garbage dumped into the back and the side, he said.
The side loaders are for the 96-gallon garbage bins the city is purchasing for its residential customers.
The bins, which cost $1,149,542, connect to the side of the new garbage trucks with the contents dumped into them, Shasho said.