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Thread: Town goes offline on the weekend

  1. #1
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    Town goes offline on the weekend

    The garbage collection on my street didn't happen this week, which was supposed to happen on Thursday, but delayed to Friday due to Memorial Day. There are still garbage cans waiting for pickup in front of all of the houses. Seagulls have been swarming. I contacted the supervisor's off prior to days end on Friday with no answer. Messages left this weekend have had no answer. I knew Johanna Coleman had a hard time opening mail on time when she was the town clerk, but now it appears she's unable to answer the phone as well.

    Does the town really go offline once 3 pm hits on Friday? Does the supervisor think that this is a 40 hour a week job? Why is there no method of contact? Other towns have Facebook pages and twitter accounts that are monitored and responded to, but not Lancaster.

    I never had this issue when I lived in West Seneca. They were responsive on weekends as was Orchard Park. Seems like Lancaster is behind the times here.

  2. #2
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    It took 6 messages left to the supervisor's office by me and several from my neighbors. Talked to the office on Monday and they promised that the garbage would be picked up on Tuesday. That didn't happen. Got back on the phone with them and after arguing for 20 minutes with them, i was told "fine, i'll call them right now". 20 minutes later the garbage is picked up, 4 days late.

    Why does it have to be so hard for someone to do their job?

  3. #3
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    Also, to make it worse, each time i talked to her, she said this was the first she heard of the issue. So any messages that you leave just go into a black hole. No accountability at that office whatsoever.

  4. #4
    Tony Fracasso - Admin
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    What type of "town" service should property owners expect when it comes to basic calls? 24/7? 9/5?

  5. #5
    Member leftWNYbecauseofBS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by yaksplat View Post
    Why does it have to be so hard for someone to do their job?
    Because there is no fear of loss.

    If this was your CPA or your mechanic you would not have not needed to called that many times. You would have been on the phone with your new CPA or mechanic. They know this and it's why they don't rush. You don't have another choice. Added to this, they can be incompetent and they can be ineffective. As long as they pretty much stop short of telling you to F off they know nothing is going to happen to their job.


    This is the case everywhere and including in the areas where the service is excellent. Those areas don't have different rules. They just have enough people willing to bitch often enough to make the lives of management so miserable that management forces quality.

    I would bet if every neighbor on your street called the town offices and spoke to everyone who they have a right to and then demanded a meeting with the same people to talk about an action plan and then followed up with calls again....your street would never miss garbage again.

    Public sector employees are motivated by being left alone. Sadly.

  6. #6
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    I honestly dont think anything would have happened if i didn't stay on the phone for 20 minutes. I wan't letting her go until there was a solution in place.

  7. #7
    Member gorja's Avatar
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    It's a shame that yaksplat complaining privately to the town about Waste management's service received shoddy service from the town. The one man who complained about Waste management service at a town board meeting in March (in the public's eye) not long later had a waste management supervisor calling him to try to take care of the issue.

    Waste management itself is hiring from the pool of people with poor work ethics like a lot of us have had to deal with.

    Georgia L Schlager

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    In our subdivision garbage is picked up on a Friday. Fortunately, we have never been missed; even on Saturdays when the pickup is delayed a day when a Holiday falls during the week. However, there have been numerous individual misses in the last six months. No problem during the week when a call is made and the garbage is picked up later in the day.

    When pickups are missed on a Saturday there is no avenue to pursue to get your garbage picked up that day and one has to wait until Monday. I have experienced this twice in the last two months. The quality of service provided by Waste Management has declined.

    There is no reason the town can’t set up a system for Saturday’s where calls are redirected to another town department or directly to Waste Management.

  9. #9
    Member gorja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Chowaniec View Post
    In our subdivision garbage is picked up on a Friday. Fortunately, we have never been missed; even on Saturdays when the pickup is delayed a day when a Holiday falls during the week. However, there have been numerous individual misses in the last six months. No problem during the week when a call is made and the garbage is picked up later in the day.

    When pickups are missed on a Saturday there is no avenue to pursue to get your garbage picked up that day and one has to wait until Monday. I have experienced this twice in the last two months. The quality of service provided by Waste Management has declined.

    There is no reason the town can’t set up a system for Saturday’s where calls are redirected to another town department or directly to Waste Management.
    The town could also provide a number for Waste Management on the refuse page on the town's website.

    Georgia L Schlager

  10. #10
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    Another option might be to have everyone drive their garbage to the houses of the supervisor and town board members and deposit it on their doorsteps. It’ll get picked up in a real hurry.

  11. #11
    Member gorja's Avatar
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    In the town's request for proposals for a new refuse and recycling contract

    5.4 Program to Minimize Missed Collections and Manage Complaints
    It is the expectation that the Contractor is responsible for responding to customer complaints in
    a courteous and timely manner. The Respondent Contractor shall provide the Town with a
    dedicated phone number, e-mail and fax to maintain prompt communication. Respondent
    Contractors shall include a proposal to mitigate missed collections and establish a system
    where the contractor will be able to rectify complaints received by the Town or Village
    regarding missed collection, poor handling of refuse and recycling containers, and any other
    issues that may arise concerning the work performed by the contractor. This program may or
    may not be included as a mobile based/smart phone or device application linking the
    community to the Respondent Contractor.

    Georgia L Schlager

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by yaksplat View Post
    The garbage collection on my street didn't happen this week, which was supposed to happen on Thursday, but delayed to Friday due to Memorial Day. There are still garbage cans waiting for pickup in front of all of the houses. Seagulls have been swarming. I contacted the supervisor's off prior to days end on Friday with no answer. Messages left this weekend have had no answer. I knew Johanna Coleman had a hard time opening mail on time when she was the town clerk, but now it appears she's unable to answer the phone as well.

    Does the town really go offline once 3 pm hits on Friday? Does the supervisor think that this is a 40 hour a week job? Why is there no method of contact? Other towns have Facebook pages and twitter accounts that are monitored and responded to, but not Lancaster.

    I never had this issue when I lived in West Seneca. They were responsive on weekends as was Orchard Park. Seems like Lancaster is behind the times here.
    How did things turn out? Is your garbage picked up?

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by shortstuff View Post
    How did things turn out? Is your garbage picked up?
    I was annoying. It worked out.
    Quote Originally Posted by yaksplat View Post
    20 minutes later the garbage is picked up, 4 days late.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by gorja View Post
    In the town's request for proposals for a new refuse and recycling contract
    I think this is great. But shouldn't we hold the town to the same level that they want to hold their contractors to?

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by leftWNYbecauseofBS View Post
    Because there is no fear of loss.

    If this was your CPA or your mechanic you would not have not needed to called that many times. You would have been on the phone with your new CPA or mechanic. They know this and it's why they don't rush. You don't have another choice. Added to this, they can be incompetent and they can be ineffective. As long as they pretty much stop short of telling you to F off they know nothing is going to happen to their job.


    This is the case everywhere and including in the areas where the service is excellent. Those areas don't have different rules. They just have enough people willing to bitch often enough to make the lives of management so miserable that management forces quality.

    I would bet if every neighbor on your street called the town offices and spoke to everyone who they have a right to and then demanded a meeting with the same people to talk about an action plan and then followed up with calls again....your street would never miss garbage again.

    Public sector employees are motivated by being left alone. Sadly.
    This is nonsense. To find quality work in the private sector, you have to keep paying until you find someone who does quality work. That means getting ripped off by sleazy mechanics, CPA's, doctors, until you find one that is decent. The sleazy mechanic doesn't go out of business, nor does the crappy CPA or the crappy doctor. Because the industry controls how many people enter the field the "competition" is locked as well.

    Sadly, the public sector isn't any different. You basically have some people in every sector who are unwilling to do their jobs.

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