News

Actions

Dearborn Heights votes to keep Rizzo, GFL for trash service despite investigation

Posted at 11:22 PM, Oct 25, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-25 23:22:54-04

Dearborn Heights City Council was set to rubber stamp a $22 million contract with Rizzo Environmental Services, but as news spread of a federal probe into the company bribing politicians in Macomb County, officials almost trashed the deal.

The controversy put the contract up for grabs less than a week before the current contract with Waste Manage expires, and less than a month after Rizzo was purchased by GFL, a Canadian garbage company.

Just a few hours after the Rizzo CEO resigned, representatives from both companies went before city council.

It took two votes to save the deal with GFL. Rizzo's reputation was only part of the problem. There was time pressure to make sure there would be no interruption of garbage service.