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Please don’t squeeze!

Please don’t squeeze!

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West Memphis city clerk wants sanitation department to keep ‘juice’ off the streets

news@theeveningtimes.com

Squeeze me? West Memphis City Clerk Joyce Gray created a kerfuffle at the September public works meeting over trash truck compacting as all things garbage were discussed.

When the truck gets full operators compact the garbage. Trashy juices then spill onto the ground.

Gray said the liquid residue stinks for days.

“They don’t clean up there stuff,” said Gray. “They are not cleaning it up in black neighborhoods. I’m going to call it like that. When it’s so hot the stench goes on for days.”

“When the hopper gets full they have got to squeeze it especially before traveling to the dump,” said Councilman James Pulliaum.

“It’s wrong when they squeeze it in front of your house,” said Gray.

Sanitation Supervisor Charles Clark reported standard operating procedures for debris spills clean-up behind the garbage trucks. “I’ve addressed this in the very area she is talking about,” said Clark. “We get the hopper full, we are going to pull up the street to a vacant lot and then squeeze,” said Clark. “It is not a pleasant thing to have spilled in front of your house.”

“It’s suggested it goes onto a grassy area for natural filtration,” said City Engineer Amanda Hicks.

“A lot of people would love to have that juice in their garden.”

Clark reported having brooms, dust pans and shovels on board each truck for litter spills.

According to the sanitation supervisor, the garbage collection has operated on reduced overtime since route changes were instituted the first week in August.

“We work about 90 minute overtime on Monday in ward one,” said Clark. “It’s the biggest ward. The days get shorter the rest of the week. Ward four and five are the shortest run times.”

Councilman Charles Wheeless closed the discussion offering positive reinforcement to sanitation workers. Routes and schedules changed throughout the city on the first of August and the councilman noted improvement the last month.

“I want to offer encouragement to all the workers as they have shown improvement on the streets,” said Wheeless. “My phone is not ringing near as much with complaints as it used to.”

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