The Woodward News

Local News

March 1, 2013

City working to resume service

Rowynn Ricks Woodward News

Woodward, Okla. — Due to weather-related issues, the City of Woodward's regular trash services will not resume until next week.

"We're going to try to do some streets tomorrow (Friday) and see how that goes, but will be back on regular schedule next week starting on Tuesday," Sanitation Superintendent Roger Arnold said.

Arnold said that because of the amount of snow that fell and the time that it is taking to get roads clear from the snow, it was just not possible to get sanitation trucks out any sooner.

"I don't see any way for us to get on the side streets, we would just be blocking roads if we tried," he said in an interview with The News on Thursday.  "And there's absolutely no alley access right now."

Besides the issue of access, the sanitation superintendent said there is also the issue of safety that has prompted the decision to hold off on trash pickup.

"I don't want our trucks out there causing accidents or our guys getting hurt," he said.

Even if the trucks had been able to get around town earlier this week, Arnold said they wouldn't have been able to dispose of what trashed they picked up.

"They just got the landfill road opened up yesterday (Wednesday) evening," he said.

Arnold said he knows that there are a lot of residents with concerns about the trash pickup.

"My phone's been ringing off the wall, but most of them have been very understanding," he said.

Right now Arnold said all he can hope for is some warmer temperatures over the next few days and continued sunshine to help clear away the snow.

"I think we're supposed to have highs in the 50s and 60s over the weekend, so hopefully that will help clear up some of these roads," he said.

Once regular trash pickup resumes, Arnold said, "we'll be working extra hard next week to get caught up."

"I'm not going to complain, though, because we really needed the moisture," he said.

In addition to catching up on regular trash pickup, city crews will also be working to clear away broken tree limbs.  However, Arnold said that limbs must be placed out by the curb and out from underneath any power lines in order to be picked up.

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