DALLAS — The City of Dallas' sanitation services department has undergone a new leadership change.
Clifton Gillespie has just been named interim director of sanitation services.
“I do want our Dallas customers to know that I am committed to service and communication improvements from the Department of Sanitation,” Gillespie said on Thursday.
The change comes nearly three months after Dallas sanitation services implemented new routes and pick-up schedules. Some neighbors complained the new system got off to a rocky start after experiencing significant trash and recycling collection delays.
The route and schedule change came under former Director of Sanitation Jerome "Jay" Council. This week, city staff learned of Council’s resignation.
His reasons for leaving remain unclear.
The new interim director said service collection has significantly improved.
“We are largely back to normal. We do have some routes, primarily recycling that continue to be rolled over to the next day. It’s really unrelated to the re-route, it has to do to our equipment availability,” Gillespie explained.
The sanitation services department has about 500 employees. Half of them are truck drivers.
Gillespie said the team is fully staffed right now.
Equipment availability is also improving, according to Gillespie. He said the team is working to expedite new equipment to supplement the fleet and further reduce service delays.
"We continue to advise customers to sign up for service advisories, either through our website www.dallas.gov/sanitation, or by downloading the Dallas Sanitation app for the mobile device," he said.