Prairie Village says it received no complaints about missed pickups during the second weekend of the city’s annual large item junk pickup service.
That followed a chaotic first weekend when some city curbs were left littered with piles of old furniture, mattresses and rolled-up carpet, after the private trash hauler the city contracts with missed hundreds of homes.
According to the city, Arizona-based Republic Services admitted to contracting out to a third party the responsibility of picking up the large junk items on that first weekend, which caused the delays.
It’s unclear why Republic hired out a ‘third party’
- City Administrator Wes Jordan told the city council on Monday that the city did not realize Republic had “contracted out to a third party” for its bulky item pickup on April 22.
- Ultimately, roughly 600 homes were missed that first weekend, the city says.
- Republic did not respond to the Post’s request for comment for this story, and it’s unclear what other company it contracted with for the first weekend of large item pickups.
- Mayor Eric Mikkelson told the city council Monday that following a meeting with staff last week, Republic got its full fleet in Prairie Village for pickups on the weekend of April 29 and also put “high-level supervisors on site” at the city’s request.
All second weekend pickups were completed on Saturday
- Republic stayed in contact with city staff to let them know when pickups were completed, Jordan said.
- “They used all their trucks, and that’s what they are supposed to do anyway,” Jordan said.
- City Clerk Adam Geffert confirmed that by Monday, the city had not received any complaints about missed pickups.
Republic’s performance is already under scrutiny
- Last fall, delays in weekly curbside trash pickup in Prairie Village prompted the city to fine Republic.
- The issue of missed and delayed pickups has lingered for months, with the company pegging the issue, in part, to staffing shortages.
- City staff said Republic plans to continue to collect bulky item pickups itself — and not contract out the work — for the final two weekends of this year’s large item pickup service, on May 6 and 13.
- “That’s two down, two to go,” Mikkelson said. “We’re optimistic because this plan that we executed [last] Saturday will be the plan going forward again, and we’ll see. We’re not without recourse if this happens again.”
Go deeper: Prairie Village trash pickups have been delayed for weeks — what’s going on?
