City of Dearborn withholding payment to Priority Waste as trash pickup delays continue

DEARBORN, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) — Trash pickup delays continue to impact residents across Metro Detroit one month after Priority Waste took over for GFL .

One community says it is not paying a cent until the trash service provider lives up to expectations.

The City of Dearborn has been dealing with trash delays over the last month. Mayor Abdullah Hammoud posted on Facebook that trash pickup is a full day behind schedule.

He says Priority Waste isn't living up to its end of the contract, so the city will not come through on theirs. City officials have yet to pay a single dollar to Priority Waste, and they're also invoicing the company for the time city employees spend resolving these issues.

Priority Waste says it spent the last month catching up with the existing service backlog in Dearborn and now has the next step: repairing several vehicles it inherited after taking over GFL.

"It's really creating a nuisance and a public health hazard for our residents. So, we're trying to hold Priority Waste to account. They promised premium service. Our residents expect the best service," Hammoud said.

Priority Waste says it was blindsided by the number of vehicles that needed repairs after expecting a fully functioning fleet when it took over GFL.

"In four weeks, we've improved by 66% in the City of Dearborn. We have a ways to go yet. This fleet is not fixed. We have dozens and dozens of vehicles out of state being serviced and dozens more here in Michigan at our service centers," said Priority Waste public affairs director Matt Allen.

The company says it has reduced Dearborn's delays from three days behind when they took over to one day behind at the end of June. However, it could still take two to three months before their fleet is completely fixed.

"They understand the disaster we were handed over. All the communities were. This was conveyed in advance of the assignment letters. So it was told it would take about three weeks to get rid of the backlog and 60-90 days to fix the broken fleet and get us to where we are," Allen said.

Hammoud says Priority Waste should have handled these challenges before promising services to more than 70 different communities in Southeast Michigan.

"When you acquired 70-plus cities, you should have been prepared to assume the service to provide quality service to 70-plus cities. That's a contract that they acquired and they should have been ready and prepared to do this. If not, delay on the acquisition," he said.

Allen said he hasn't spoken directly with Hammoud. He said he spoke to Dearborn Public Works and believes they're on the same page about a long-term strategy to fix the issues he says they inherited from GFL.