TRUMANN, AR (KAIT) – Garbage service has presented a problem for Trumann residents, but the city has found a solution.
After a special meeting Thursday night, the Trumann City Council decided to dump its current collector and handle the trash pick-up itself.
"We've got a few kinks in our plan right now, but they will all work out," Mayor Sheila Walters said.
Walters directed Trumann street crews this week to pick up bags of garbage from homes because many residents complained of overflow. The mayor even brought in extra help Friday to make sure all the trash was collected.
"We actually hired an outside contractor to come in, and they picked up part of the city today along with (Delta Environmental)," Walters said. "So, hopefully this afternoon, everybody's garbage will have been picked up this week."
Walters says she has received countless complaints about Delta Environmental, which has provided the city's trash service since 2007. Scheduling and payment conflicts have likely led to inconsistent service, but the mayor says it will be cheaper for the city to pick up trash on its own.
Residents, though, will have to pay more for service. The city council voted Thursday, and, starting March 1, the residential trash rate raises to $15 per household instead of $8.50 plus tax.
"This will allow us to pay the increased fee that we are going to pay for service for the next eight to 10 weeks," Walters said.
The city council can later adjust the fees once it purchases trucks and officially begins its trash business, Walters added. She will start accepting bids Tuesday to find the company to pick up trash temporarily. She hopes trucks can hit the streets starting the week of February 20.
"We just need to get something reliable," said Barbara McClure, a 14-year resident of Trumann. "If it means getting our own trash trucks and raising the taxes a penny or two, then more power to them."
McClure supports raising the trash rate to simply get better service. She says Delta Environmental rarely stuck to its designated collection day. She would often leave the trash can on the curb, unsure of when it would be picked up.
"I mean, let's face it, we don't want to live in a trash dump," McClure said.
Overflowing garbage cans lined her street until Thursday night when street crews came to collect trash. The road workers have been dumping the garbage inside the fenced area at their shop, a temporary holding place until more permanent plans emerge from City Hall.
"You've got to have somebody. Somebody's got to take it unless we want to haul it ourselves," McClure added.
Mayor Walters has not decided when to schedule garbage collection, but she is asking residents to start setting out their trash cans on Sunday evening or Monday morning.
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