'This breaks our hearts': Family responds to Sioux Falls Sanitation controversy

Update: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Peter Kramer's involvement with Sioux Falls Sanitation. His status in regard to the business has been clarified in the story and headline.

Torrie Baker and Kyle Kramer want to apologize on behalf of their father. 

Their father is Peter Kramer, a partial owner in a parent company that helped start Sioux Falls Sanitation, and they've heard the complaints of customers whose garbage piled up for weeks and the concerns from employees who have been left in the dark as to why their health coverage has been shoddy and their pay intermittent. 

And they're just as frustrated. 

"I hate that I have nothing to tell them," Baker said this week. 

The city of Sioux Falls revoked Sioux Falls Sanitation's license in late May after customers said the service stopped picking up garbage in early May, prompting the city health director to call the situation an "imminent health threat to the city" and the courts to order an injunction to allow the city to contract another garbage hauler to collect the trash.

More:City revokes Sioux Falls Sanitation license, asks court for injunction

Peter Kramer and Kay Kramer, Baker said, are equal owners of K&P Services Inc., which oversees Independence Waste out of Elk Point, which has also stopped its services. K&P Services Inc. loaned money to help start Sioux Falls Sanitation, Baker said, and her father "played an active role in the daily operation of both businesses." Though not a technical owner of Sioux Falls Sanitation, Baker said she and her family still feel responsible. 

Phone calls made to Elk Point and Sioux Falls numbers listed for Kay Kramer were unanswered Wednesday morning, and a voicemail was not able to be left because of a full mailbox. 

Customers, employees and city attorneys have attempted to reach Kay Kramer, and have had little success. Assistant City Attorney Paul Bengford said at a hearing for the civil case Monday that the city had just reached her by phone on June 3, and that civil papers still hadn't been officially served because the Sheriff's Office had a difficult time contacting her. She was not present at the hearing.

Peter and Kay Kramer used to run the businesses together until Peter Kramer was diagnosed with Lewy Body, an aggressive form of dementia, in November 2017, Baker said. He was later determined incapable of managing his own affairs and hasn't been involved in the business since, she said.

More:Sioux Falls Sanitation owner misses court hearing, city extends injunction

At that point, Baker and her family also lost communication with Kay Kramer, Baker said. 

After her brother started receiving Facebook messages from frustrated customers and employees, the siblings again tried to reach out to Kay Kramer to see what was going on with the service. 

"It was pulling teeth," Baker said. "The line of communication was so atrocious." 

Baker and her brother have been fielding questions about when employees can see their pay and health coverage and where the money customers have been paying has gone.

Baker said she and her family have also been experiencing the lack of health coverage because of the business' situation. She and her brother have been paying for their father's medical bills and stay at an assisted living facility in Florida out of pocket, she said. 

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"We don’t know (where the money is)," Baker said. "It’s not in our bank accounts. We’re scraping by just like everybody else is. It's incredibly frustrating. All I can do is validate their frustrations and offer apologies on behalf of our father."

Baker is hoping that by speaking out she can help ease some of the angst circling around the company.

"We're hoping justice will be served soon," Baker said. "This has absolutely broken our hearts. This is not anything we could have ever expected for (our dad's) company or his legacy. It’s devastating."

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At the Monday hearing, Judge Camela Theeler extended for 10 days an injunction to allow the city to remove Sioux Falls Sanitation dumpsters, trash receptacles and the trash they hold from people's property. The extension also allows more time to officially serve court papers to Kay Kramer, Bengford said. 

Sioux Falls Sanitation customers with accumulating trash can contact the city at 605-367-8162.

Email reporter Danielle Ferguson at dbferguson@argusleader.com, or follow on Twitter at @DaniFergs.