Scott Waste Attends Fiscal Court, Responds To Septic Tank Incident

Darren Doyle, story
Mr. Pete Reckard, a representative from Scott Waste, attended today's Fiscal Court meeting to address the county's concerns over damage caused by one of Scott's trucks at the residence of Corey Vanmeter in an incident where Vanmeter's septic tank was crushed when a Scott's truck left the driveway and fell through the tank.

We first called Scott Waste around December 4th to hear their side, but at the time, all they said is that they were working with Mr. Vanmeter and would not comment further. Multiple calls were later made to Scott Waste through the week of Christmas with more attempts to allow the trash removal service to speak their voice so the public could also hear their side and not just Vanmeter's, but none of them were returned.

According to Mr. Vanmeter, Scott Waste offered to cover half of the $2800 in expenses, to which Vanmeter declined, and instead filed a claim on his homeowner's insurance.

Mr. Reckard told the court today that it was not entirely Scott's fault because Vanmeter had not disclosed that his septic tank was so close to the driveway. Reckard said Vanmeter's residence had been serviced since 2013 with commercial dumpster services with no issues until now. He said had Scott's Waste known that the tank was so close to the driveway, they would have made other preparations or arrangements to prevent something like this from happening.

He also said that Scott's Waste was still willing to work with Mr. Vanmeter in order to come to an agreeable solution for both parties. He also told the court that the reason Scott's did not return calls from the Edmonson Voice was because they were currently trying to work the issue out with Vanmeter at that time, and only wanted to speak with him.

Vanmeter said at this point, Scott Waste has not offered anything more than to cover half the expenses and that he hasn't heard from them since their initial offer. He said Scott's Waste hadn't returned all his calls. He said he was not aware that they had plans to attend fiscal court today. Vanmeter still says that the problem would have never happened had the driver of the truck remained in the driveway.

Reckard said that Scott Waste wants to be a good community partner and wishes to provide quality customer service. "We're going to make some mistakes," he said. "But we'll try our best to rectify those mistakes."

Judge Cannon told us earlier that he felt like it was in Scott Waste's best interest to pay for the entire amount, and that's what he was going to suggest to them. As of now, nothing has changed.

Cannon also opened the floor to other members of the court as well as visitors to ask Mr. Reckard questions or voice concerns, and several asked questions ranging from damaged cans to asking Scott's to do a better job of emptying all contents of the cans. Others in attendance spoke with Reckard privately after the meeting.

Editor's note: It's not our place to say who is at fault and who owes what, nor do we or will we accuse anyone of anything. In this case, we were contacted by Mr. Vanmeter who wanted to tell his story to Edmonson County. We've seen his septic tank, and it was in fact, crushed by a Scott's Waste truck.

On the other hand, Scott Waste made some valid points today , but they refused to share those with us when we first ran the original story, and they could have, and furthermore, they should have. When they chose not to talk with us, it gave the public the appearance that either they didn't care, or that they had something to hide, which didn't help them in any form. We would have been glad to publish any of their comments or viewpoints, but the fact is, they wouldn't give us that opportunity.

We hope that both parties can work out a solution that's mutually beneficial to all involved.