Fewer complaints filed over Tulsa's new trash service; new ordinance still not in place

TULSA - The number of complaints has dropped since the city of Tulsa adopted a new trash system about a month ago but one major issue remains.

There were more than 1,400 complaints during the first week compared to last week where there were only 900 complaints.    

One city councilor is concerned the city has taken too long to come up with an ordinance governing the new trash service.
 
District 6 Tulsa City Councilor Byron Steele says some residents are calling in, challenging the new system.

The T.A.R.E. Board, which is in charge of coming up with the trash laws citizens must follow, only recently submitted a proposed ordinance to the city for review.

That ordinance still has to be reviewed by the city's legal department and passed by the city council.

"It's going to take a while because we're creating a new program from the ground up," said Liz Hunt, city of Tulsa spokeswoman. "We want to make sure that we have thoughtful ordinances in place just to support the new program."

But Steele said there's been enough time taken already.  

"The T.A.R.E Board has been working on this program for four years and you would've thought that these rules were set and in place,"  said Steele.  "We were anticipating that we would be inundated with all these new ordinances to review and process and that never happened."

A T.A.R.E. spokesperson said it will be a couple of more months before the city has the new ordinance.

In the meantime, Hunt says residents are being asked to follow the new program requirements regarding recycling and refuse.