But the city council had questions about Rizzo’s ties to former Mayor Woodrow Stanley and a Canadian company.
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The city’s contract with Republic Services expired Sunday, so Mayor Weaver says there will be no trash pick up starting today.
The city of Flint, Michigan, best known across the nation for a water-pollution crisis which left an unknown number of residents exposed to unsafe levels of lead that has not yet been resolved, is running into major problems with another public utility. Weeks later, the council voted 8-1 against her recommendation and instead made a decision to renew the city’s contract with Republic. The council overrode the mayor’s veto. A Flint City Council member is suing the Mayor after she insisted on hiring a new garbage contractor, even after the council voted to keep Republic Services on the job.
Still stocking bottled water after the city’s lead contamination crisis, Flint residents are now being forced to store something else in their homes – their trash. “We’re trying to be fiscally responsible”. The mayor chose to suspend the collection services, once again leaving the city’s trash service in limbo.
“While the obnoxious stench of political intrigue permeates from city hall, an equally insalubrious aroma comes from our neighborhoods where our garbage will not be picked”, Genesee County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Farah said, according to Michigan Live.
Earlier, MLive reported City Council members requested more time to read through Rizzo’s $17.4 million contract offer, which undercuts Republic by $2 million. “We truly regret any inconvenience that these circumstances might cause residents, and look forward to resuming waste collection as soon as possible”.
“We hope to have a new agreement in place that will allow crews to resume trash collection by the middle of the week”, Weaver said in a written statement issued over the weekend. “Meanwhile, we appreciate and thank the citizens of Flint for their cooperation”.
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“First the water, now the trash”.
