Carmel considering legal action against Republic Services for not picking up trash Friday

CARMEL — Mayor Jim Brainard is considering legal action against Republic Services after the company told the city it would be unable to resume trash service Friday.

The city said in an email Brainard is considering the action for breach of contract, and says Republic blamed the lack of drivers and the condition of the roads outside of Carmel for their decision.

Carmel got nine inches of snow this week during the winter storm. Brainard said in the email that he was "very disappointed that they did not keep their promise" to pick up trash.

"Despite assurances made Thursday that Republic Services would be able to pick up residential trash and recycling containers in Carmel – an assurance that led the City Street Department to work diligently over night to plow all city streets so they would be safe – Republic informed City officials Friday morning that they would not be able to resume trash service," the city said.

The city says Republic plans to "double up" next week on services for Thursday and Friday customers.

“I will continue to protect the investment made by our taxpayers to contract with companies for certain services and will seek legal remedies for times when they do not perform as expected,” said Brainard in the email. “Under the contract, the City must agree to any delay of services and we did not do that.”

In Indianapolis, the city suspended all trash services, including Republic, on Thursday and Friday due to the snow.

WRTV reached out to Republic Services, who provided the following statement:

"The Republic Services team cares about the communities we serve, and the safety of employees and residents is our top priority. Due to the severe winter storm that has been affecting many areas across the country, we made an initial decision to suspend service on Thursday. We continued to monitor conditions and the forecast and determined that it would not be safe to operate on Friday. We are proud to serve the Carmel community and look forward to resuming service as soon as it is safe to do so."