Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - Spring cleanup is done in Syracuse and, with the dumpster bill coming in at more than $9,000, it was the most expensive in Syracuse history.
Matt Vigneault, Syracuse town manager, said that total figures aren't available yet. He did say the $9,000 figure was for dumpster hauling only and did not include any labor costs.
The town used 35 dumpsters, which have a capacity of 30 cubic yards, the volume of pickup was much more than was expected, however, and took the city an additional four days to clean up.
The city specified that only four days were to be used by the public to place their discarded items on the curb. After those four days, the collectors catalogued what was left to be picked up, totaling 80 houses that still required pickup.
Beyond those listed houses, the city did not accept any other items that were placed out after the deadline.
Vigneault said the salvagers were searching through the town as well. He said the town advertises, in part, in hopes that people will come through and pick up some of the volume, which would reduce the cost to the city.
The police were on special duty watching to make sure that people were not dropping off instead of picking up. Anyone caught dropping off would be fined $500.
"It's hard to tell if there was abuse or not, we always expect there is." said Vigneault, "If you see three water heaters or four water heaters out in front of someone's house, or maybe you saw two water heaters last year and two more this year, you think, 'Something's going on here.'"
During Tuesday's town council meeting, Jake Bitner, town council member, announced his resignation from the council, effective July 1.
Bitner owns property outside of town and recently built a house on it.
A requirement of being on the town council is that members be residents of the city.
There is no speculation as to who will replace him, yet, taking over the Democratic council seat, but the Democratic party in Syracuse will choose who will finish out Bitner's term.
