JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – As of Friday, February 4, the Jackson City Council has not agreed on a new garbage collection company to replace Waste Management.
Council members voted down the contract with Richard’s Disposal on Tuesday. They were set to vote on the decision again on Friday.
In a closed executive session, the City Council removed the item from the agenda in a 6-1 vote.
Councilman Aaron Banks, Ward 6, said there are concerns about legal issues when it comes to the process. They also voted 5-1 in favor of hiring their own legal counsel.
“There are some things that have to be determined, if it was a legal course of action or not when it comes to how things have gone. So again, I have to wait for further advisement form the legal team,” said Banks.
Banks said he hopes the issue can be resolved in a timely matter without having to go to court.
“I hope that we can get this resolved as soon as possible, and I think the best thing is to protect the legal and financial interest of the city so that we protect the city, and we don’t get faced with a lot of lawsuits,” stated Banks.
Some community members said they are tired of the process. Danyelle Holmes, national organizer for the Poor People’s Campaign, said the City Council needs to agree on a contract, so they can focus on other issues in Jackson.
“The city has been asked to take on a proposal of setting aside $700,000 to contribute to community organizations that are doing the violence interruption. That was tabled because Councilman Banks couldn’t make the meeting Monday. But on Tuesday, we wasted the whole day here at the city council meeting talking the garbage contract,” said Holmes.
The current contract with Waste Management expires in April 2022.
The mayor’s office released the following statement about the vote:
The Mayor’s Office is indeed disappointed in the latest action by City Council members to take the unusual and costly measure of hiring their own attorney, purportedly for a conflict that no councilmember can specifically identify, and for removing the item that would approve a garbage collection contract for the City.
A conflict with our current City Attorney, Torri Martin has been suggested by some council members, but pinning down exactly what that conflict is has been elusive. We stand by Attorney Martin. She knows the ins and outs of procurement law and has extensive experience in procurement from her tenure in the MS Attorney General’s office and working with the Public Procurement Review Board.
Attorney Martin has from the onset of issuing the Request for Proposals exhaustively explained the details of the evaluation process to the council, and she has done her best to answer questions that in some cases have had nothing to do with the contract.
Today’s action (or rather inaction) is simply another attempt by the Council to kick the can down the road to prevent the highest rated vendor, Richard’s Disposal, from being awarded a contract that they won fair and square, in accordance with the law, and one that would save the city approximately $1.2 million dollars a year.
Richard’s Disposal received the highest overall marks in the selection process for the twice-a-week with a cart option, and the Council should have approved the company just as it routinely does with other contracts. And yet a majority of the council has decided – without offering any compelling reason – to take the highly unusual step of voting against the top ranked contract not once, but twice. Even after the Council requested additional terms be renegotiated and those terms were added to the contract, the Council still voted no. The Council’s repeated vote against the vendor raises its own questions.
Why would the Council vote against a contract that would save the cash-strapped City millions of dollars?
Richard’s Disposal would establish an operations center here in Jackson and provide good-paying jobs and benefits to Jackson residents. The company would be in line with the City’s efforts to employ a qualified and successful minority contractor. They would continue twice a week pickup and offer a cart – like many other cities – to eliminate the eyesore and unsanitary nature of open garbage bags across Jackson. And most importantly, the City would save approximately $7.3 million over the course of the initial 6 years.
But rather than vote for a legally procured contract, the Council has decided to hire its own attorney, and just like our current emergency garbage contract, this action will cost the City additional and unnecessary taxpayer money.
Our ultimate goal has always been to do what is best for the residents of this City. Rest assured that we will do what is necessary for the City to have an affordable contract in place for garbage collection on April 1, 2022.
Jackson Mayor’s Office