County Hauling fires 2 after thefts from New Kensington residents

New Kensington’s garbage hauler fired two employees after residents reported thefts of a package and Christmas lights, the company and city officials confirmed Thursday.

It makes for a troubling start for the new one-year contract between New Kensington and County Hauling, which council approved in December despite past concerns over the company’s service.

“In my opinion, this is 100% completely unacceptable,” Councilman Todd Mentecki said. “I’m hoping this is an isolated incident.”

City Clerk Dennis Scarpiniti said a resident reported a County Hauling employee took a package from their front porch last week. Christmas lights were taken in another incident.

The thefts happened in the area of Highland Avenue and Oakwood Street.

City police Chief Bob Deringer did not respond to requests for information. It was not known whether criminal charges were filed.

County Hauling spokeswoman Ro Rozier said the company “swiftly” fired two employees.

“We hope that the residents of New Kensington know we have a zero-tolerance policy for situations like this, and we apologize for any grief this may (have) caused,” she said.

Scarpiniti said he and Mayor Tom Guzzo plan to meet with County Hauling next week to discuss the matter more thoroughly.

“We’re going to pursue this further,” Scarpiniti said.

Since renewing the contract, Mentecki said there have been quirks in garbage collection over the holidays, which he said was kind of expected with Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on Fridays, when garbage is collected.

But he said there had not been problems as bad as earlier in 2020, when, Mentecki said, residents said they would be willing to pay more for better service.

Council opted to keep County Hauling for 2021, citing improvements in service and that the only other bid, from Waste Management, was significantly higher.

Residents with concerns about garbage service, such as a missed pickup, should call City Hall, while matters such as thefts should be reported to police, Mentecki said.

Mentecki said he is hopeful such incidents will not happen again.

“They do need to improve their customer service to our residents in the city of New Kensington,” he said.