Laurel Leff Photo
Sandra Bohannon returned from a weekend of “baseball heaven” — a trip to Long Island for her 12-year-old son’s tournament — to what she considers to be bureaucratic hell, in the form of a $911.78 bill from the city for removing what she claims was just a tiny pile of junk.
A July 19 letter from the Department of Pubic Works informed her she owed the bill for the removal of “bulk trash” — what Bohannon (pictured) described as s a small coffee table, a 51/2‑foot pool cover, and two pieces of wood.
The city says the trash was left on the sidewalk in front of Bohannon’s home at 305 Lighthouse Rd., a violation of a city ordinance that prohibits the placing of bulk trash on city sidewalks. Bohannon said the trash was not on public property, but to the side of her house, and she had plans for disposing of it.
What is undisputed is that the city employed enough services to cart away a lot more stuff than four pieces of trash.
The city’s work schedule shows that to haul away Bohannon’s trash it took: two laborers working for two hours at a total cost of $82.20; three equipment operators working for two hours at a cost of $127.49: one superintendent working for one hour at the cost of $25.78; and one inspector who worked for an hour-and-a-half for $43.25. The job also required two dump trucks, one trailer, and one loader at the cost of $525. Administrative and disposal costs added $108.05.
That Time Of Year
John Prokop, the director of the Department of Public Works, agreed that the amount of time and equipment indicated on the work schedule sounds like the pick-up involved more than a few items of trash. He said he doesn’t know how much trash his department actually picked up. He said he needed to check with his staff and didn’t have an answer.
Prokop said that Bohannon could appeal the fine and that her appeal, like everyone else’s, would be heard by an independent lawyer appointed for that purpose. Bohannon is appealing.
Prokop noted that 85 other letters went out at the same time as Bohannon’s informing homeowners that they had violated the bulk refuse ordinance. The number of violations picks up at “certain times of year, especially when students and faculty are leaving for the semester,” Prokop said.
The violations aren’t connected to New Haven’s new system of requiring residents to schedule bulk trash pickups and pay for them.
Annex Alderman Alphonse Paolillo Jr. said he had received a complaint similar to Bohannon’s from one of his 17th Ward constituents. (Bohannon lives in the 18th Ward, Morris Cove.) Paolillo noted that it was the first time in his eight years on the board that he received a complaint about a bulk refuse fine. Paolillo said he has heard of other such complaints and has advised his constituent to appeal.
Bohannon, who manages the New Haven office of the Wepawaug-Flagg Federal Credit Union, is a meticulous woman who comes to an interview armed with copies of the information she received from the city, helpfully highlighted in yellow.
What angers Bohannon almost as much as the size of the bill — and that angers her plenty — is the inconsistencies in the city record.
The top of the work schedule recorded the total hours of work as one hour, where right below it stated the five laborers and equipment operators worked two hours. The work schedule recorded the date of the job as June 3, when the letter Bohannon received said it took place on June 2.
A notice of violation listed the owner’s address as 745 Orange St. and the location as 305 Lighthouse Rd. Bohannon said her husband has owned the home at 305 Lighthouse for two decades.
Sorry, Right Number
Finally, the violation notice gives a number to call, which Bohannon said was not in service when she called. When the Independent dialed the number Monday and Tuesday, a recorded message instructed the caller to dial the number of the person being called (no numbers were given) or wait for someone to come on the line. But no one did. The call cycled into a busy signal.
There’s also a problem with the telephone number on the letter Bohannon received from the city. The letter instructed the recipient to call the department’s Chief of Operations, Jeff Pescosolido, to request an appeal. When the number listed for Pescosolido was called on Tuesday, it wasn’t possible to get through. Pescosolido’s mailbox was full.
Bohannon also wasn’t happy with a conversation she had with public works director Prokop. Bohannon prepared a letter explaining what had happened to her and showed up at Prokop’s office on on July 25 to deliver it. Prokop agreed to see her, yet “he didn’t even open and read my letter,” she said.
“I’m just very, very upset,” Bohannon said.
Prokop said that Bohannon wanted immediate satisfaction when she spoke with him, and he couldn’t give that to her. The facts need to be determined, he said, which is what appeals are for.
“It’s a process,” Prokop said.
So what was she doing with that junk outside her house whatever the size of the pile?
Bohannon said she left it for an elderly man who regularly cruises the neighborhood to take away people’s discarded items. She wanted to see what he wanted from her pile. (He took an air conditioner.) She planned next to call a friend with a truck to cart away the rest. For a whole lot less than $911.78.