When it comes to garbage collection, the city of Columbus has had enough of Golden Triangle Waste Services and wants out, Mayor Keith Gaskin said during a Wednesday press conference at City Hall.
GTWS has been struggling with an aging fleet and a shortage of spare parts for months now. Those issues, as well as delays filling orders for new trucks, have been delaying routes.
Gaskin said Wednesday the city is preparing to put out a request for proposals this month in the hopes of attracting a new contractor.
“Any time the city is outsourcing work, the city has to go through the RFP process,” he said. “We’ve been working on this for several weeks now. It’s wise for the city to periodically look at the services we outsource to see if we get the best bang for our buck for our citizens.”
GTWS contracts with the city for two garbage pickups a week now but is struggling to meet that obligation. It approached the city in October about dropping to one pickup per week until the contract expires in September, a suggestion that was not well received.
Columbus and Eupora are the only two GTWS clients to receive twice-weekly residential pickups. All other residential customers in Webster, Oktibbeha and Lowndes counties are only picked up once.
Even if the city proceeds with a new vendor, change will not be immediate, he said.
“With a process like that you’re looking at a couple of months before the new group can come in and take over,” he said. “We’re just beginning that process.”
City Attorney Jeff Turnage said the city would advertise its request just like any other professional service with a cost of more than $75,000.
“It’s not a bid process like a commodity purchase,” he said. “The council will have the ability to review the proposals and select the one that it thinks best for the city. That includes the price and the abilities of the proposers to fulfill their obligations.”
The council can negotiate with the preferred candidate to determine a final contract, he said.
Turnage said he thinks the cost of garbage pickup will likely go up.
“We’ve been paying the same amount (to GTWS) for years,” he said.
“That’s speculation, though, and we won’t know until we get the (proposals),” Gaskin interjected.
GTWS charges the city $10.90 per pickup, and the city charges citizens $17.50, which includes landfill fees and other costs.
Gaskin said he would like to see any potential replacement service offer trash cans to citizens.
“That’s been a big issue because those folks who leave their trash (bags) out on the street for several days to get it picked up can cause a real problem with varmints and dogs getting into them,” he said.
He also said he would like to see an option for recycling.
The council will have to approve an RFP before it is put out, Gaskin said.
Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones told The Dispatch he is all-in on looking for another provider.
“I’m the first one to suggest looking at all options back when all this started,” he said. “I am definitely for looking at any options to get everything under control like it should be.”
Jones also said he wants to see trash cans provided for city customers.
“That’s a big need,” he said. “Most companies pick up one day, and if we go to one-day pickup you need something other than bags to put trash in. I also think they need to be certified trash cans so they’ll all be uniform.”
Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard said he also supports looking outside the current arrangement.
“Trash pickup is extremely horrible,” Beard said. “I hope new companies can be competitive. We pay $17.50 now, and for some people that’s a lot. We’re not getting the service that we pay for. I’m all for the idea of looking into it, because anything would be better than what we’re getting.”
Beard also said he wanted to see some kind of compensation for customers.
“For the past two or three months we’re not getting full service for what we’re paying for,” he said.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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