HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - Hattiesburg will continue its bi-weekly pickup of residents’ garbage and yard debris and officials are looking to upgrade its trucks.
The city had flirted with bidding out its garbage service but officials didn’t the price wasn’t right. Mayor Johnny DuPree said only two companies expressed any interest in providing the service.
“There really was no savings, and I think that was the reason we even looked at it,” DuPree said.
The Hattiesburg American reports (https://hatne.ws/1m14iVA ) the five-year lease on the current trucks will expire this summer. The bids for the new, automated truck bodies are scheduled to be opened May 8.
“We have moved in a different direction, something that’s a little bigger, a little beefier truck, and hopefully we won’t have the maintenance issues that we’ve had with these previous trucks,” City Council President Kim Bradley said.
Chief Financial Officer Connie Everett said a fleet of 14 trucks operates four days a week, with 12 on the road. She said the city receives about $2.1 million in user-fee revenue and another $1.6 million from local taxes.
DuPree said by keeping the service in-house, the city would be able to maintain control over operations.
“As far as efficiency was concerned, I think we’re about as efficient as you can get. It’s one department that we get very few complaints on and those guys and ladies do a wonderful job in doing their work,” he said.
“Some that have gone to private haulers have experienced some problems, and we just felt like we could do a better job ourselves,” Bradley said.
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Information from: The Hattiesburg American, https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com
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