M&CC hopes to learn from prevailing garbage crisis - King

M&CC hopes to learn from prevailing garbage crisis – King

Jun 26, 2010 News

The question has been asked about how effective is the operation of the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown (M&CC) in the face of the prevailing garbage dilemma it faces. Garbage disposal contractors on Monday withdrew their collection services from the municipality, leaving the city entity to fend for itself in terms of city-wide garbage removal. More than $60M is still owed to the contractors despite efforts by the municipality to pay $12M last week.
According to King, yesterday, “We are still unable to make the remaining portion of the money available to our solid waste contractors and we do not know when we will be in a position to do so.”
And without additional payment the contractors have vowed to continue to withhold their services. As a result, the municipality has been able to mobilise its own resources and has so far not been doing too bad in terms of cleaning certain vulnerable areas, particularly those known for commercial activities, he added.
“We have been doing lots of work in the main business areas and also in some of the wards. I understand that yesterday our people were in Albouystown/Charlestown area doing some cleaning.”
However, the municipal financial state may remain shaky for a while longer in the face of the prevailing challenge as according to King, in order to ensure the integrity of the city the municipality has sought to expand the assignment of workers with tractor and trailer by engaging a shift system.
This, he said, will result in the workers being paid for the extra hours they work. “When I drove around with the Town Clerk yesterday (Thursday) most areas were pretty clear; even in the times when we have the contractors you will still find accumulations in some parts. So from observation we are not doing too badly but we need to step up and we need to improve on what we are doing.”
This recent challenge, according to King, comes as an opportunity for the municipality to see whether it can manage its own solid waste arrangement by collecting and disposing of the city’s accumulated garbage.
“It is giving us a chance to test ourselves, to test our experience and the equipment that we have even with our limited financial resources.”
But this current dilemma is merely adding to the plethora of such experiences that the municipality has had over the years. However, King asserted, yesterday, that while the municipality may have the will to the deal with the prevailing situation, its inability is rooted in the lack of efficient supportive systems and financial resources.
He emphasised the need for an effective and efficient workshop with an adequate amount of spares and human resources with the skills and ability to repair and undertake proper maintenance to vehicles if an in-house garbage disposal system is to be realised.
“I don’t think we are at the point where we have the supportive systems in place to have the kind of cash flow to really move at a higher level in terms of collecting and disposing of garbage.”
In the meantime, King said that the municipality has continued its discussion with the contractors in the hope that they will remain understanding even as efforts are being made to garner the monies required to pay them for service already rendered.
According to him, aggressive efforts are being made to collect outstanding amounts, which include the servicing of some 28,000 demand notices to property owners who have failed to honour the payment of rates and taxes.
A number of persons, including several “big” business owners, are before the court of law. “We are encouraging all those people who owe us to come in and talk with us to settle their account. It is a simple formula, we need the money to provide the service so people need to come forward to pay their rates and taxes” King stressed.

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M&CC hopes to learn from prevailing garbage crisis – King

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M&CC hopes to learn from prevailing garbage crisis – King

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