Brookhaven, Smithtown hire emergency haulers to pick up trash

Brookhaven and Smithtown officials Thursday reported few problems from the last-minute hiring of carters to haul trash from thousands of homes after a Ronkonkoma sanitation company suddenly dropped its service.

Officials in both towns said they still did not know why Quick-Way Sanitation announced at midday Tuesday that it would discontinue trash pickup in parts of Smithtown and Brookhaven. The announcement — made in a one-sentence letter to each town — left officials scrambling to find replacement carters to collect trash this week.

Quick-Way’s decision affected 7,083 homes in St. James and the Pines in Smithtown, and about 20 percent of trash pickup routes in Brookhaven, including parts of Shoreham, Rocky Point, Port Jefferson Station, Farmingville, East Patchogue and Manorville.

Brookhaven hired four carters to replace Quick-Way on an emergency basis, town spokesman Kevin Molloy said. Town officials were investigating next steps to hire permanent replacements for the affected areas, he said.

The Smithtown Town Council in a special meeting Thursday morning approved an emergency contract with Brothers Waste Services to avert what they described as a potential “public health crisis.” The council also authorized litigation against Quick-Way and its insurance carrier.

Mike Engelmann, Smithtown’s solid waste coordinator, said Brothers’ bill will be about $32,000 higher than Quick-Way’s. Brothers would work the last year of Quick-Way’s unexpired seven-year contract, he said. Quick-Way had been paid about $847,000 annually, Engelmann said.

Brookhaven officials could not say what economic impact the change would have on the town.

Attempts to reach Quick-Way officials were unsuccessful. A call to the company’s listed phone number was not answered; the mailbox for a phone number associated with a company employee named Jennifer was full.

The letter to each town was signed by Joseph Litterello, listed in state documents as the company’s chief executive.

A waste hauling executive not associated with Quick-Way who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, “It’s very unusual that they would stop service. … It’s got everyone in the industry scratching their head.”

Usually, a company that wasn’t making money on a contract would ask a customer for more money or make them aware of the problem before terminating service, the executive said. Reasons for sudden termination could include truck repossession, being cut off by a fuel seller or labor trouble, the executive said.

Engelmann said in an interview that Brothers trucks were “picking up waste with relatively few complaints” on a regularly scheduled collection day in St. James.

The town was getting more calls than normal from residents about collection, he said, but most were from residents asking for information, not complaining about missed or late pickup.

In Brookhaven, Quick-Way had just completed the first year of a multiyear deal to collect trash and recyclables in seven town garbage districts, Molloy said.

Molloy said replacement carters in Brookhaven quickly hired Quick-Way employees who had lost their jobs to work on the affected routes. Calls to the town’s emergency call center were not higher than usual, Molloy said.

Engelmann said he spoke on the phone Tuesday with a Quick-Way employee who told him at company offices “they were telling employees when they arrived back from routes that they no longer had a job.” Some of those employees have since contacted Smithtown officials, Engelmann said, asking about job opportunities. Officials have told them to call the companies now performing the emergency work in the two towns.

Molloy said Brookhaven officials were encouraging residents to put paper and cardboard in recycling bins Friday night for Saturday pickup. He said Christmas tree collections would remain on schedule for next week.

Port Jefferson Station-Terryville Civic Association vice president Ed Garbowski said he had heard no complaints about trash collection Thursday morning. He said he told neighbors to “have a little patience. There’s going to be a few bumps in the road at first because they have to learn new routes. But I’m sure everybody will be patient.”

Thursday is the day for Smithtown carters to submit bills for December work, Engelmann said. “We have not seen Quick-Way as of yet,” he said. “I’m not expecting we will.”

Smithtown attorney Matthew Jakubowski said he had instructed the town comptroller’s office “to not pay anything to Quick-Way.”

With Deon J. Hampton