Trash pick-up issues took up a big part of Monday’s Mt. Carmel City Council meeting. Garbage Commissioner Chandler Madden kicked off the discussion by advising residents that taking to Facebook with your trash problems isn’t the quickest way to get it resolved.

Mayor Joe Judge said Republic Service representatives had told him many of the recent problems stemmed from new employees and a “few bad apples” were the cause of the problems.

As for residents who claim their trash isn’t picked up, City Clerk Rudy Witsman said the issue might not be with Republic and instead, the resident themselves….

Finance Commissioner Eric Ikemire said the current issues with Republic mirror the quality of service that was offered during the life of the previous trash contract. He said the contract term starts off with good service, and then lags for awhile, before rebounding in the final stages of the contract.