North Huntingdon, trash hauler to part ways at end of year

A Rostraver trash collection company that has been the target of complaints by North Huntingdon officials and residents will terminate its contract at the end of the year, two years before the pact was set to expire.

“It’s a mutual separation agreement,” Zachary Haigis, commissioners’ president, said of the proposed agreement with County Hauling LLC, the township’s residential trash hauler.

Township commissioners are scheduled to vote Wednesday on the separation agreement. The contract was a four-year agreement that began in January 2020.

With an approval of the separation agreement, the township would advertise for bids for garbage hauling services, to begin in January 2022, said Commissioner Brian Blasko.

Richard Walton, chief executive of Noble Environmental of Cecil, the parent firm of County Hauling, could not be reached for comment.

In a brief statement, County Hauling spokeswoman Ro Rozier said the company and North Huntington mutually agreed to terminate the garbage at the end of the year.

Jeff Silka, township manager, declined to comment on the proposed agreement, saying it was a matter of discussion in a closed-door executive session and has not been finalized.

With the mutual separation agreement, Haigis said County Hauling would not be penalized for an early termination of its contract. County Hauling previously was fined by the township for its performance in trash collection, Haigis said.

Commissioner Jason Atwood said the mutual decision to terminate the hauling contract had been building for a few months.

“We agreed to disagree. It was in the best interest of the township and County Hauling,” to end the contract, Atwood said.

Blasko said County Hauling notified the township it wanted to sever its agreement with North Huntingdon.

When County Hauling succeeded Waste Management in 2020 as the township’s residential garbage hauler, township officials said they received numerous complaints about the service.

County Hauling also is the residential garbage collector in Hempfield.

Jason Winters, Hempfield’s manager, said the township has not received any notification from County Hauling that it wants to end its contract with Hempfield.

“We’re working through any issues with them,” Winters said. The complaints from residents are not unusual, Winters said.