(News)

A fight appears to be brewing between city council and Controller Ray Malinchak over his decision to hire a private investigator to probe the city's garbage collection.

At last night's workshop meeting, Council President Michael Cherepko and other councilors said Malinchak had overstepped his authority and would have to pay for the investigation himself.

"No one told him to do that," Councilwoman V. Fawn Walker said. "If he chooses to do that, he can spend his own money ... We're not going to pay for it."

Malinchak has asked to be reimbursed $5,000. "I can assure you that under my watch, that's not going to happen," Cherepko said Tuesday.

In April, council voted to investigate why the amount of garbage being collected in the city has increased about 20 percent since the hauling contract was switched from Allied Waste Services to Clairton-based Nickolich Sanitation.

Last month, Mayor Regis McLaughlin suggested that council hire Corporate Security & Investigations of Monaca, Beaver County, at a cost of $5,000, but Cherepko declined to put the proposal on council's agenda. Instead, Cherepko said he would solicit bids from several different firms.

In response, Malinchak put out a press release accusing Cherepko and other council members of dragging their feet, and announced that he would hire CSI himself, citing his authority under the city's Home Rule Charter.

But Cherepko and several of his council colleagues disagree with Malinchak's interpretation of the controller's duties as outlined in the charter.

"This investigation was supposed to be done by (council), not the controller," Councilman Dale McCall said.

Seven firms have been asked to bid on the investigation, but none had yet responded, Cherepko said last night.

At May's council meeting, Nickolich Sanitation owner Nick Nickolich said that the amount of trash collected has gone up mainly because his crews are picking up trash that previous haulers left behind. Nickolich invited city officials to follow his trucks and audit his tonnage slips.