Salem resident has harsh words for town's sanitation collector

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

SALEM ? ?Trash talk? dominated an otherwise sparse agenda for the Salem City Council during the council?s regular meeting Aug. 4.

The trash talk concerned the city?s sanitation contract with Sedore Inc., headquartered in Van Buren County.

?We?ve had a lot of complaints (about Sedore),? Mayor Dan Patterson remarked. He said most of the complaints concerned opening people?s garbage bags looking through the garbage or not picking up garbage.

Salem resident Chris Feehan wasn?t nearly as diplomatic. ?I think your business has handled us horribly,? she told Troy Sedore, owner of the sanitation service. ?We did not have our trash picked up for three weeks in a row. One of your workers opened the trash bags and looked inside?Our trash was just sitting there and piling up.?

Sedore said there are very strict regulations on what sanitation haulers can take to landfills, especially the Des Moines County Regional Landfill where Salem trash is taken. That is why, he said, bags are sometimes searched.

?We?re responsible for taking illegal items,? Sedore continued. ?Des Moines County?s is the biggest stickler and they look through our trash. It is illegal to take yard waste (to the landfill) and if we do, we are put on probation.?

Sedore said his firm does not go through every bag it picks up, rather bags that appear to have suspicious refuse in them, such as yard waste.

Councilman Chuck Kramer said he did not like that practice by Sedore. ?I don?t think you should be looking through trash bags,? he said. ?There could be important papers in there or Social Security. I don?t want you going through my trash, and I don?t think legally you can go through people?s trash.?

Another councilman, Bill Wixom Jr., said he heard that a Sedore truck one day was being driven by a 13-year-old boy. Sedore said the teen was the son of one of his employees but was not driving the truck.

Kramer suggested reminding city residents that yard waste can be deposited behind the maintenance building which city staff said they would do.

?This argument would never have happened if you didn?t have such an arrogant attitude,? Feehan told Sedore. ??I?m paying $6 a week to have you pick up my trash. You have the contract, pick up the trash.?

City Clerk Laci Shull asked for an updated list of what Sedore can pick up and said she would send it to residents.

In other business, the council approved the third reading and adopted a new nuisance ordinance, modeled after Mt. Pleasant?s. Once the ordinance is published, it will be in effect.

A resident complained about plugged or damaged culverts in the community which are causing storm water to run off across city streets. The council said they would have staff check in to the problem.

Council members meet again in regular session Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 5:30 p.m. in the Salem Community Building.