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There remains an open invitation for City Controller Ray Malinchak "or any member of city council" to inspect the trucks hauling McKeesport's garbage, said an attorney for the trash hauler.
But if Malinchak continues to make "unsubstantiated allegations" against Nickolich Sanitation, the company will consider legal action, said attorney John Linkosky, who represents Nick Nickolich, president of the Clairton-based firm.
"I haven't spoken with Mr. Nickolich, but if Mr. Malinchak is making false statements that impugn Mr. Nickolich's business and reputation, that is something that is actionable in Pennsylvania," Linkosky told the Almanac Friday morning.
Malinchak hired Corporate Security and Investigations over the objections of Council President Mike Cherepko. On Wednesday night, Malinchak told city council that after interviewing 12 witnesses, the investigators determined that "trash not originated in (McKeesport) was improperly charged to our city's account" and that "there is ample information to presume that there may have been a premeditated scheme to alter or falsify weight slips at disposal sites and thereby financially harm the city."
The controller did not identify the witnesses or their affiliations and said he will not release a copy of the investigators' report to city council. Malinchak paid the firm more than $5,000 out of his own money, but said he will submit a bill to city council for reimbursement.
Malinchak is challenging Cherepko for the mayor's office in the November election.
"I don't know what the political background is, or what any person's political motivation would be with an investigation like this," Linkosky said, "but it seems to me that with Mr. Nickolich's invitation to city council and the controller to ride on Mr. Nickolich's trucks as they're collecting the garbage, that there's money being thrown away.
"I don't know if anyone can gain any political ground from that," Linkosky added.
The attorney confirmed that neither he nor Nickolich spoke with the investigators. Malinchak told the Almanac and a reporter for the Post-Gazette that he didn't ask the investigators to speak to Nickolich because he felt their side was adequately explained at the May council meeting.
At that meeting, Nickolich and Linkosky said that trash collection in McKeesport has increased because of illegal dumping in city trash bins and because many single-family homes are now rental units.
"What I heard at that meeting, one thing after another, was that the city is inundated with trash," Linkosky said Friday. "One lady said someone cleaned out a house and left a trash pile two stories high.
"There's been no untoward conduct concerning the city or its garbage or the billing or anything," he said. "I think we've adequately explained why the amount of tonnage has gone up."
Just a question. What good would it do to ride around on the carrier’s trucks after the fact as part of the investigation? The tonnage increase occurred the past two years and whether they are guilty of wrong doing or not, their drivers and pickers would likely be on there best behavior if Big Brother were watching.
Paul - September 10, 2011
Well, one of two things can happen.
Either the crews don’t pick up enough garbage to explain a 20 percent increase, or they pick up what the kids call a “sh!tl0ad” of garbage that does explain a 20 percent increase.
As far as that goes, the garbage trucks could have been followed or watched without Nickolich Sanitation’s knowledge or permission. That could have been done before these allegations were aired publicly.
There are other questions to be asked. Who’s doing the weighing? Is their scale being calibrated regularly? Is it accurate from truck to truck and day to day? Are the empty/dry GVWs of the trucks being reported and measured properly? Etc.
If someone is playing games, I’m not trying to absolve them of guilt. But — in my opinion — these kinds of questions should have been asked and answered privately before this was turned into a public spectacle.
Anonymous, unsourced, unverifiable accusations are inadmissible in court, but hey, they do make headlines during an election year, don’t they?
Webmaster - September 10, 2011
Good points, and we may never know the truth. I could be wrong, but I believe at one time the city directed the carriers not to pick up construction materials due to the weight and associated cost. When I hear “They pick up everything.” I ask myself “Why are they being allowed to?”. Surely you are right that there is a political aspect to this all. I could be wrong but IMHO, had Council acted quickly to get to the bottom of this, it could have been a resolved non-issue by now. Evidently the Daily News doesn’t consider it an issue. I am glad that you cover it objectively so that the folks can make up their own minds.
Paul - September 12, 2011
While I do appreciate that the garbage trucks with pick up the occasional “odd” thing that I leave out for them, I do think that they could exercise a little more restraint. I’ve seen dressers, televisions, seemingly intact furniture, mattresses, and the like left on the curb, and sure enough they’re gone after the trucks do their rounds.
HOWEVER...
If the City was truly concerned that “inappropriate” items are being left for trash pickup, perhaps they’d try to alleviate the issue somewhat and provide more information on what should be done with bulky items, or post reminders about annual/quarterly “bring your appliances downtown” collections days — if such a thing even exists.
It’s easy to say that renters/homeowners are taking advantage of a situation or just being lazy and putting these things out on the curb, but the City is being just as negligent by not actually doing something to prevent it in the first place.
John L. - September 12, 2011
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