Is everyone having trouble with Waste Management? It would seem so, at least in Jefferson County.
Last summer, when Pine Bluff was hashing over what to do with Waste Management’s contract for another term, people showed up by the van loads to express their displeasure with the garbage pick-up service. Commercial customers, in particular, complained.
One said he was having to move dumpsters around, putting the less-filled ones in places where there were ones overflowing. Add in the middle-of-summer heat, flies, vermin and the garbage itself and it was an ugly picture.
Another customer said he was forced to carry the garbage out into the country and burn it — not that that’s a great solution to any of this.
Then, just recently, Jefferson County Judge Gerald Robinson called an audible, ditching Waste Management for what he said was lousy service and signing up with LRS (Lakeshore Recycling Systems), a competing company.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Now the White Hall mayor, Noel Foster, has weighed in. He said commercial customers were having so many problems, he called up LRS and told them to come pick up the garbage that Waste Management had been unable to pick up — even though it was WM’s contractual job to do the work. LRS did just that and sent the bill to Waste Management. How humiliating. The mayor said he has to stay on Waste Management; otherwise, after they improve, they start slacking off again.
And what is Waste Management saying during all of this? Not much, which is a rather poor way of getting ahead of a problem and assuring customers that … well, maybe assuring them that the company is working to fix the problem, or something along those lines. And then actually doing that.
We circle back to Pine Bluff’s situation. This messiness comes up every time Waste Management’s contract comes up for renewal. And every time, city officials say they know Waste Management leaves a lot to be desired and they’re working with them, etc., etc. But someone — in this case, Mayor Shirley Washington — always says the biggest problem is that there’s no other business that competes with Waste Management, so the city is stuck dealing with them. And then the city ends up with another multi-year contract with Waste Management.
Our question: If Gerald Robinson knows to pick up the phone and call LRS, and Noel Foster knows there is another company out there, why does Pine Bluff leadership not know? Isn’t that what elected officials are supposed to do — research, analyze and take action to make things better? The county and White Hall can do that, but our leadership wrings its hands and signs on for another term with a company they have to make excuses for? They can — and should — do better.