City Council Unanimously Approves Allied Contract

The Chicago Heights City Council voted unanimously to approve a transfer of the city's garbage collection contract with Skyline Disposal to Allied Waste Transportation Inc. at its Oct. 1 meeting. As the owners of Skyline, Clem and Loretta DeLuca, prepared to retire and hand the operation of their business over to new owner Allied, the city had to step in and approve the transfer, as it involved a municipal contract.

"The city has a right to approve the transfer of rights and obligations in that contract," Corporation Counsel T.J. Somer said. "Mr. and Mrs. de Luca have entered into a proposed agreement that is contingent upon this council's approval this evening, with a very, very large and renowned collection firm known as Allied Waste Transportation Inc., which is owned by even a larger firm known as Republic. They're national, international, so to speak, and well-renowned."

Jocelyn Kruis, general manager at Republic, will be responsible for the Skyline facility in Chicago Heights, and she said residents won't notice many differences in their garbage disposal service once Allied takes over.

"The service will remain as-is," Kruis said. "We will be performing services with the same crew. The Skyline Disposal team will join our team, providing the same services, so really, the residents should notice very little change as a result of the ownership switch."

Other potential changes in the future could include new containers and totes for trash disposal, although Kruis said those would only be switched out as they needed to be replaced.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Charles Derringer, of the 100 block of Plymouth Drive, warned the council that Allied has had some recent disputes with the City of Chicago over its adherence to the city's minority and woman-owned business policies.

"I think maybe the council should understand that this company that's buying [Skyline] has had some very serious problems, particularly with the city of Chicago," Derringer said. "Now, whether we have a minority and business management policy like the city of Chicago has, I think that's something we need to look into."

Mayor David A. Gonzalez responded to Derringer's concerns, saying that he didn't think the past disputes would be a problem in Allied's dealings with Chicago Heights.

"We're very comfortable with it after we've researched it," Gonzalez said.

Somer also addressed Derringer's concerns by saying that the dispute with Chicago occurred before Allied had been purchased by its parent company, Republic, and that Allied had proactively worked to solve the problem once it came to light.

"The Inspector General of the city [of Chicago] applauded Allied for their efforts in actually self-reporting," Somer said. "Allied had discovered the wrongdoing, and they assisted the city in rewriting their oversight rules so they could do a better job of that. I think they actually paid the city and school district somewhere in the vicinity of $11 million in under-payments that should have gone to minority business enterprises."

Gonzalez also said that one of the conditions of the council's approval of the contract was that Allied would continue to operate out of Skyline's local facility, and he was happy that Allied agreed.

"So Allied would be still operating out of Chicago Heights, which is very positive, keeping people employed there in the city of Chicago Heights," Gonzalez said. "We thank Republic and Allied for agreeing to that part of the assignment."

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