GARY | Garbage collection ceased and finger pointing began this weekend over responsibility for the public health crisis.

Mayor Rudy Clay blamed the City Council for refusing to approve a deal he brokered to privatize trash service for the city.

"The City Council voted 6-3 to stop garbage pickup. Until we get five votes on the City Council, for this, we have a very serious problem here," Clay said Sunday afternoon.

Doug Grimes, president of the Miller Citizens Corp., representing thousands of city residents, blamed Clay and the Gary Sanitary District Board of Directors for failing to resurrect the city's sanitation department, which went out of existence nine months ago. He said the mayor must recall its 49 public sanitation workers and repair its fleet of garbage trucks.

"They are creating a crisis that could have been averted through better leadership, and now they are willing to endanger the health and safety of our community for their own political ends," Grimes said Sunday.

Clay brought in Allied Waste Services of Northwest Indiana in October, saying the city sanitation department was running weeks behind the usual collection schedule. Clay said Allied could do the job for half the cost of city workers.

The deal came under attack for putting city employees out of work and creating a $12 monthly residential garbage fee. Critics also complained Allied won the job without competitive bidding.

The Miller group successfully sued to have a judge declare the arrangement void because the City Council hadn't ratified it. Clay said he worked for months to get council support.

"The City Council shut us down," Clay said. "It's up to them."

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