The comments were plentiful, and we imagine had the forum been less decorous, some of what was said might not have been suitable for a newspaper.
The subject was Waste Management, the city’s garbage collector. The problem is they haven’t been collecting all of the garbage lately.
“I don’t feel like they are doing their job,” said Kevin Pennington, who added that it had been eight weeks since Waste Management had last picked up garbage at his business. “They are giving me my money back, which is acceptable, but what about the other people that don’t complain? They’re not getting their money back.”
Mayor Shirley Washington said the city is aware of the problem and is working on it.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I know that’s not good enough because this has gone on far too long,” the mayor said. “They are telling us they don’t have trucks and they don’t have drivers.”
No trucks? How does that happen?
From our perspective, some of these what-ifs should have been worked out years ago when the City Council was renegotiating Waste Management’s contract. That point was brought home when Pennington suggested the city play harder ball with the garbage company.
“Is there no recourse?” he asked. “Can we not fine them?”
Washington said she was looking into it.
Again, such an eventuality should be part of any new contract with Waste Management. If a customer is missed or if a customer’s trash isn’t picked up in a timely fashion, fill in the blank — but something should happen automatically. Pennington should not have to duke it out with the home office, wherever that is, for a refund. And Waste Management should have to mail the stipulations to every customer in Pine Bluff to explain their rights.
Another resident, Frederick Jackson, said his tenants are starting to get upset, having paid their rent on time only to be faced with the frustration of trash piling up. Consequently, he’s being forced to play musical chairs with garbage, taking some from one overstuffed dumpster to another one that still has room left.
“I’m not going to keep maintenance guys that long picking up other people’s trash with feces and baby diapers in it,” he said.
Add in the flies, rats and the smell accelerated by a hot Arkansas summer, and you get the picture.
At the extremes, Jackson has had to gather up the trash, take it to the country and burn it. Goodness! And while Pennington is getting refunds, Jackson said he’s tried but failed to get any sort of satisfaction out of Waste Management.
The problem is that there aren’t many companies that pick up trash so the option to walk across the street for another vendor is quite limited. Still, this is not the first time that complaints have been lodged with the city about the garbage service. And Washington said that when she was at the Municipal League meeting, representatives from other cities had the same gripes. Perhaps, if enough dissatisfaction was voiced, another vendor could be coaxed to put a bid in for the work.
The contract with Waste Management expires in November 2025. Certainly, the problems at hand need to be addressed now. But city officials need to remember this period when contract negotiations are entered into again. Waste Management customers need to be treated like more than afterthoughts. But that won’t happen unless council members rewriting the contract put some teeth into it.