More than 1,100 Cincinnati households have filed trash complaints after staffing shortages left 13 neighborhoods, including Oakley, Hyde Park and Mount Lookout, without pickup for nearly two weeks.

The disruption began Sept. 8, the Tuesday after Labor Day, when multiple Cincinnati Public Service Department (DPS) workers called in sick. Crews never came back that week. The city posted a service alert the day after missed pickups on Thursday, Sept. 10, but did not notify affected residents directly, according to WCPO reporting.

Oakley resident Kate Ruttkay told WCPO on Monday, Sept. 14, that she and her neighbors had to file 311 complaints just to find out what happened.

"As far as I could see, you had to go and seek the information to get the update," Ruttkay said. "There wasn't anything proactively that was put out to the neighbors."

On her street, where trash day is normally Wednesday, cans sat curbside for days. Ruttkay described an odor in the air and said the overflowing bins made it hard for kids to play on the sidewalks.

The city's 311 service map showed more than 1,100 missed-collection complaints across the affected neighborhoods since Sept. 8, according to WCPO. The 13 neighborhoods hit include Columbia-Tusculum, Madisonville, Mount Washington, Walnut Hills, Westwood, Mt. Airy, College Hill, Winton Hills, South Fairmount and South Cumminsville, along with the three in our coverage area, WLWT reported.

City Councilman Mark Jeffreys said Tuesday, Sept. 15, that several DPS employees called off sick on multiple days. He called it a defiance of DPS Director Mark Riley's expectations and said the city has identified the problem and additional help is on the way, according to WLWT's follow-up report.

City spokeswoman Mollie Lair told the Cincinnati Enquirer on Sept. 11 that the disruption was not a regular occurrence and that the city planned to cover impacted routes the following week. A city email sent to residents on affected routes on Sept. 13 said missed items would be collected starting Monday, Sept. 14.

That promise had not been fulfilled for many households as of Monday. The city told WCPO that all trash, including overflow that doesn't fit in cans, would be collected during the week of Sept. 14. The city did not answer WCPO's question about a plan to prevent future disruptions.

Brian Spitler, president of the Mount Lookout Community Council, told the Enquirer on Sept. 11 that the situation was a huge concern. Spitler noted the city had been late several times this year on yard waste pickup due to the same staffing problems.

A Local 12 report found that a city spokeswoman declined to say how many workers called in sick or how large the trash collection workforce is.

Residents on affected routes should place their carts at the curb on their next scheduled collection day.