Give-and-take a good thing
Weremember once when complaints were rolling into City Hall about the city’s garbage service and the official saying they couldn’t get the company’s representatives to answer their calls. We would categorize that as a low point in the city-vendor relationship, and sometimes we were left to wonder which part was the dog and which was the tail.
That’s been a long time ago, and seeing Waste Management’s senior manager, George Wheatley, and the district manager, Chad Parker, answering dozens of questions from city officials was a step in the right direction.
The meeting was a redo from last week when the topic was originally on the council table to consider. And it was beneficial to the city that the council postponed until this week the matter of extending Waste Management’s contract for another five years.
The contract itself had been analyzed and negotiated by a group of 12 individuals. Again, thank-you to them, as they had to do the heavy lifting here. But several of the council members had not had time to read the lengthy proposed contract, and certainly, there had not been time or opportunity for them to discuss it among themselves or to pose questions to Waste Management officials.
For one, we were glad to see remarks made about recycling. We do understand that recycling is a mixed bag at times. Glass, for instance, is no longer accepted in recycling bins in Little Rock. And sometimes, providing curbside recycling can cost more than not offering the service, given that the work involved outweighs the worth of the recycled items. The bigger picture would be to encourage the public to reduce and reuse along with recycling, which all goes into keeping things out of the landfill. That in and of itself is worth considerable.
When the subject came up, the Waste
Management fellows said that with covid terrorizing the world and with the depressed economy, the company wasn’t taking on any new recycling work. That makes sense, as did their entreaty to the council to holler back at them after this mess passes, and they would discuss. (Someone jot that down on a calendar so we don’t forget to do that.)
Other items were more nuts and bolts. Why do bundles of branches have to weigh no more than 35 pounds instead of the 50 pounds they could weigh before? Why do you say you’re not going to pick up trash from carts that have lids that aren’t closed all the way? What about those big roll-off bins? Why do you have to rent one of those if you’re an apartment complex owner and just want to pitch out some mattresses? As one council member said, that can get expensive.
The company’s answers seemed to tend toward protecting its interests when someone takes advantage of a situation. And isn’t there always someone who does that and rather ruins things for the rest? Like there’s no problem when Mr. Resident puts his sticks and leaves out to be picked up, but down the way, a commercial lawn person has put out a mountain of items to be picked up rather than deal with the stuff themselves.
There was good give and take, and it was a productive start. It’s usually a positive thing to look people in the eye and have a conversation rather than just email documents back and forth and hope everyone gets on the same page.
Still, we’d like the city to keep an eye on the complaints and, with those in hand, review the operation from time to time with Waste Management officials. Everyone was on their best behavior while the contract was under consideration. The city should make sure its residents’ needs continue to be handled properly, and that the company’s good behavior extends the full five years.