Five months after Newburgh's massive sewer overhaul was completed, an eyesore remains in a city park.

Neighbors are growing impatient, wondering why a contractor isn't picking up its equipment and debris, which are scattered in the tiny park between the lanes of Park Place.

"To have this just sit here, unattended like this, it's a hazard," Park Place resident Kay Quinlan said Thursday morning.

Contractors, including Metra Industries of Little Falls, New Jersey, staged equipment and materials on the green space for more than two years while working on a sewer separation project.

The sewer project was finished in October 2024.

As months went by, residents began to wonder why a bulldozer, a streetsweeper a dumpster and piles of construction debris have not been removed from the site, in the shadow of the city's 9/11 memorial.

"The sewer project was work that needed to be done," Quinlan said. "I applaud the city for doing it, but this? This is gross."

At Monday evening's City Council meeting, Newburgh Public Works director Jason Morris responded to a complaint from one of the residents.

"We've engaged with the contractor," Morris said. "It's become a legal matter. That's all I can tell you."

Metra Industries vice president of administration Steve Dioslaki told News 12 Thursday afternoon a late request by the city to do paving in the area forced Metra to keep the equipment at the site through the winter until paving season in the spring.

Dioslaku also said the city still owes Metra more than $1 million for extra work and project changes over the course of their contract.

He said Metra is trying to avoid a lawsuit to settle the payment dispute.

"Due to numerous changes, unexpected site conditions, and extra work we were required to perform, the project timeline tripled. The costs - job extensions, home office overhead, impacts and otherwise - associated with this extension are significant," Dioslaki wrote in an email to News 12. "Yet we’ve been unable to get clear answers from the city regarding payment - both for the extra work and the contracted work we’ve already completed."

Meantime, Metra's equipment is not moving from Park Place.

"I'm really not sure who's to blame," longtime Park Place resident Joan Porr said. "It's just a shame though because this was a park, kids play here, and now it's a little dangerous for kids."

Some items at the site that do not belong to Metra have been removed.

Neighbors told News 12 that one victory they have had as they called the various contractors whose names are posted on the equipment was that contractor came to remove a portable toilet.

City administrators have not responded to numerous inquiries from News 12 regarding this story.