Tribune/Nathan Orme - The Sparks City Attorney has filed a suit against the owner of a low-income apartment complex at 341 and 347 Rock Blvd. This building used to the barn for the house at 347 Rock and residents say the owner has used it to store garbage, which he will not pay to have collected because of a dispute with Waste Management.
City Attorney Chet Adams went to court Friday morning asking a judge to declare a public nuisance at the low-income apartment complex at 341 Rock Blvd. because of “uncollected, rotting garbage strewn about.” The motion for a restraining order filed by Adams included photographs of overflowing trash cans and an old barn building filled with garbage bags. The complex is owned by Donald Schricker of Carson City.
“Due to a billing dispute, Schricker has refused to pay for garbage services since 2005,” according to a press release from Adams.
On Friday afternoon, Schricker told the Sparks Tribune he is not paying Waste Management to pick up garbage at the complex because the company, which has an exclusive agreement with the city of Sparks for residential garbage collection, does not give him credit on his bill for unoccupied units.
“This has been an ongoing problem in the city of Sparks for years and years and years,” said Schricker, who has lived in northern Nevada for more than 40 years and bought the 90-year-old house at 347 Rock Blvd. and small apartment building behind it 16 years ago.
According to Schricker, Waste Management charges him about $35 every three months for residential garbage collection. The fee is charged for each of the eight units at the two addresses, regardless of whether a unit is occupied. He said he even pays for garbage collection for an old barn building that he now uses only for storage.
Overflow garbage is what is stored there, according to resident Dana Crump, who lives in an apartment directly across from the barn.
“It’s disgusting,” said Crump, who has lived there for nine months.
On Friday afternoon the area was clean, but Crump said garbage had been piling up on the side of the barn opposite from her apartment for weeks. She said it only started about a month ago and that she had seen Schricker putting excess trash into the storage barn.
According to Justin Caporusso, spokesman for Waste Management, the company has been disputing billing issues with Schricker for a long time. Caporusso said Schricker has the ability to stop residential curbside trash pickup service at unoccupied apartment units any time by calling and requesting it.
Schricker said he currently has two unoccupied units in the complex. He plans to file a response to the city’s suit next week.
Story update: April 6, 2009
Schricker was ordered on April 6, per a city-issued temporary restraining order, “to immediately abate the nuisance ... subscribe to the garbage and waste hauling services of Waste Management ... maintain a current account with (Waste Management)” as well as cease hauling garbage until authorized to do so by the city and Washoe County District Board of health.
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