Town Clerk explains the contingency plans for garbage collection

Aug 10, 2017 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The Mayor and City Council wishes to inform the public that it has put in place contingency measures to manage, in an environmental friendly manner, the city’s waste. This is as a result of the Council’s two main garbage contractors- Cevons Waste Management and Puran Brothers- withdrawing their services from the Council. This action on the part of the contractors was influenced by a regrettable delay in payment to their accounts, by Council, and their displeasure with a proposal by the city to settle its accounts with them over a certain period.

It is important to mention that both Puran Brothers and Cevons Waste Management started out very small, with only one truck. Over the years, the Council committed itself to working with them. As a result, our partners (contractors) were able to grow into large corporations with substantial fleets of vehicles and allied equipment. During that same period, the Council neglected to invest in its own Solid Waste Management Department. City Hall now lacks the trucks, equipment and mechanics to adequately manage the city’s waste. Therefore, Waste management in the city is left largely to our two solid waste contractors.

This is costing the Council about ($45M) monthly. This sum does not include additional millions paid to the Solid Waste Management Department. Solid Waste Management therefore accounts for a substantial portion of our expenditure. It is a little less than the total wages and salaries bill for the entire Council. The Council cannot sustain this expenditure without neglecting to provide other critical municipal services, to citizens.

This is influencing the general and the specific operations of the Council as not much is left in the city’s coffers after paying garbage contractors, to provide other vital municipal services such as, Street lights, public health services, maternal and health care services, drainage and irrigations, roads and bridges, the creation of parks and green open spaces for children, youths and senior citizens, meat and food hygiene, maintenance of the abattoir, maintenance of markets, pumps, and drainage equipment, and a host of other services.

However, the Council is unable to honour its obligation to its partners because of a number of reasons including. The fact that the city has not had valuation of properties for over 20 years, certain businesses are neglecting to pay even meager amounts of property rates to the city. The cumbersomeness of the judicial process to recover outstanding amounts by the sale of defaulting properties, changes in the demography of the city, unprecedented environmental conditions and events triggered by global warming and climate change, increasing demands for vital municipal services, the inability of the Council to effect new revenue earning ventures, and increases in the cost of goods and commodities used by the Council to provide services to local communities.

Notwithstanding that, the withdrawal of the collection services, by our contractors, has opened a new path for the Council to rethink, and reorganize the way it manages the city’s waste. This has re-shaped the way the Council is organized to carry out its responsibilities.

As a result, the Council will now do the following:

(a)          It will move swiftly to liquidate its debts with its two main contractors, Cevons Waste Management and Puran Brothers; all monies owed to our partners will be paid before the end of this year, 2017.

(b)          Council will retool, re-fleet and re-equip the Solid Waste Management Department to haul and dispose of at least 60% of the city’s waste by the end of December 2017. Technical teams and mechanics will be retrained to service and maintain trucks with new technologies, in this area of our responsibility.

(c)           The Council will pursue an aggressive public awareness programme in schools, religious organizations, non-governmental organizations and local communities to encourage residents to take responsibility for the physical state of their neighbourhoods and protect the environment in which they live. This programme will begin in another two weeks, in all local communities and will engage our friends in the private sector and other volunteer groups.

(d)          The Constabulary will re-establish a special anti-litter squad armed with cameras to give special attention to litter bugs, who are bent on littering and disrupting the aesthetics of the city and hurting the natural environment.

(e)          The Council will go forward with its plan to introduce a ticketing system for litter bugs. This will allow those, who litter the city to pay a fine directly to the Council. This will give the Council two benefits, 1. Provide much needed money to enforce litter and related by laws. 2. It will serve as a deterrent to those, who intend to hurt the city.

(f)           The city will introduce fees on commercial and industrial waste beginning form the 1st September, 2017. They were consultations with businesses and other stakeholders and it was agreed that commercial and industrial waste should attract special fees.

In the meantime, the council is calling on all citizens to cooperate with its effort to, keep the city clean by ensuring that they store their garbage in a proper manner in an appropriate receptacle and wait for the collection trucks; they will arrive. Also, all those individuals, who are vending around the city are asked to ensure that the areas in which they operate are kept clean and tidy at all times. Vendors must have bags or proper receptacles to dispose of wrappings and other packaging materials that they dispose on a daily basis during the sale of their goods. The Clerk of Markets and the Constabulary will be on patrol to assist vendors, to comply with the city’s by-laws.

Royston King

Municipal Clerk

City of Georgetown

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