Last month’s unprecedented winter storm left many roads impassable and some residents without trash pickup for up to two weeks. Some of them took their trash to work for disposal. Many did not want to place extra bags of garbage outside, for fear of feral animals tearing them open.
A number of posts on local social media pages raised questions about pickup times and other aspects of the storm-related delays. The City of Sapulpa did update citizens via it’s own Facebook page, but a number of citizens said that these posts never showed up on their timelines, and local media was not apprised of the ongoing situation.
Trash spills outside of a dumpster off Poplar street in Sapulpa during the February snow storms. Choquette Photo
Sapulpa Times spoke to Greta Calvery, the Senior Public Affairs Manager for Waste Management, the waste disposal contractor for the City of Sapulpa.
According to Calvery, Waste Management was in constant contact with the City and provided service as soon as was safely feasible. She sent Sapulpa Times the following statement:
“With the unprecedented weather conditions which included back-to-back storms affecting the area from 2/8 – 2/20, Waste Management worked with the City of Sapulpa Management and Utilities Department to service all customers as soon as we could get on the roads safely providing service when conditions allowed with the addition of extra equipment around the City for overflow garbage in multiple locations and an extra truck picking up heavy volumes. Daily route plans were communicated daily in advance to alleviate any confusion and afternoon status calls were also communicated.”
Calvary further stated: “We put open-tops, those big 30-yard dumpsters, we put those out at different places around the city to help with the overflow, including the hospital. We’ve picked up all the overflow that was out there…we even ran extra trucks when we could get on the road. I think if we need to pick up something extra, I am sure we would do it….we try to do the best job possible.”
When asked about questions raised about pro-rating bills, Calvery said: “In this situation, it would need to be a very specific circumstance to issue a credit because we did all of this extra stuff so that everybody would get picked up.”
Sapulpa Times also reached out to the City of Sapulpa to ask about pro-rating bills and was told by the Utility Department that there would be no credits issued on water bills since all the trash was eventually picked up. The same question was presented to the City of Sapulpa Finance Director Pam Vann.
“There’s a monthly charge for the trash service for that month. So, it’s the trash that is picked up during that month.” Vann said.
