FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — While the city of Fort Wayne works out its settlement with Red River’s insurance company in a Texas bankruptcy court, city officials are asking for a bit more patience from residents until that process is complete and they can find and hire a new garbage collector.

WANE 15 continues to receive messages asking why the city isn’t offering a refund or rebate of some sort for the missed and late pickups.

John Remus called WANE 15 on Thursday and said he’s tried calling 311 and the city’s waste management department about getting a refund. He said he’s left voicemails but hasn’t received a call back.

“There should be a credit at least to the bill. I mean, there’s people that are going weeks without pickups. They should be getting credited for those weeks. If they’re a day late, there should be money taken off the bill, you know, something proportionate,” Remus said.

WANE 15 asked city spokesman John Perlich on Thursday if there has ever been a conversation about providing some sort of compensation for residents after years of bad service.

“While they may not be receiving the service on the day they are to be collected, we still are ultimately providing that service. I don’t foresee a situation where there would be refunds issued. I know that’s a point of frustration for people, but we still are providing the service, so we still will be collecting payments for those services.”

CITY SPOKESMAN JOHN PERLICH For context, Perlich provided the full line-item detail that goes into the $12 Fort Wayne residents pay on their bill:

Cart rental and maintenance for both garbage and recycling
Leaf pickup
Household hazardous waste program
Disposal of garbage
Processing of recycling

He added that the city is doing all it can to help resolve the issue while they wait to move on from Red River, noting that city crews continue to work around the clock to help Red River attempt to get caught up.

Perlich said they’re hopeful the settlement with Red River will be resolved soon so the city can move forward with looking for a new provider. He said they’re still targeting July 1 as a start-date for a new vendor.

Poster Comment:

Gawd. Go to the source and watch the video. Why on God's green earth would you have a Texas company picking up garbage in NE Indiana?

I only have to put my 95 gallon, mandated, $40-something/month out about every six weeks. Last round, they were 3.5 weeks late, today they were only a day late, and the ankle bracelet wearing negro was going to leave half my 'illegal immigrants' next door neighbor's garbage behind until I yelled at the 'groid.

I don't normally look at local shit. I had to today. I yelled at a negro, I hope they send me to Park Center looney bin rather than Allen County lock up. I do OK in jail, but I was really pissed when they kicked me out of Park Center last time after 48 hours (I got swatted for trying to shoot myself without a gun), the folks in there turn themselves in voluntarily in most cases on Obama's dime. The place is nicer than most five-star hotels. The buffet 3X/day was awesome.

Whatever, the aspirin ain't cuttin' it. I might have to switch to methadone.