Not enough garbage cans, says McClendon

West Memphis mayor requests funds to purchase 1,000 additional carts

news@theeveningtimes.com

One of Mayor Marco McClendon's first moves as mayor last year was to call to reduce litter and improve garbage collection efficiency by providing each West Memphis residential customer with a 60-gallon garbage bin. McClendon appealed to city council.

City Council ran it through its public works for approval. The commission referred the concept to the full city council for consideration. The idea passed, without funding.

Next City council upped the sanitation fees found on the utility bills to pay for the bins. A charge of $1.75 per month has appeared on residential customer bills for a year. The aldermen and mayor agreed to sunset the fee as soon as the new carts were paid for with the proceeds, but no household customer had received a bin.

Flash forward one full year to the first city council meeting in May 7, 2020.

The city still does not have a way to provide all its customers a new garbage can.

City council turned down the mayor's request to borrow enough money to deliver every customer a can.

'I am asking today for an addition $34,290 to purchase 1,000 additional carts,' said Mayor Marco McClendon. 'I want to amend the amount you had approved was $367,710. I want to increase that amount by $34,290 in order to buy an additional 1000 carts.'

The administration had initially underestimated the number of residences in the city. The city engineer took one count from the city utility data and another from the sanitation software called Rubicon. The extra thousand garbage cans made ensured all residents receiving the new carts and having a few in reserve.

'Instead of 7,000 we need about 8,000 carts,' said McClendon. 'We have $214,000 in that account right now to go toward these carts.'

Budget chairman councilman Tracy Catt did the math for city council.

'The original estimate of 7,000 was a reasonable estimate,' said Catt. 'Since that time we've gone into the Rubicon numbers and it should be about 7,400. This leaves approximately 600 carts in reserve.'

Councilman James Pulliaum objected to the amendment on procedural grounds.

'The best thing to do from administrative view for bookkeeping is to have something in writing,' replied City Attorney Mike Stephenson.

'The primary focus of this is to state the direction that the administration should go and to establish a paper trail for auditors,' said Catt.

The cart order has been placed on a sixty-day back order.

'Its time to move forward on this,' said Catt. 'Once the carts get here and the one armed bandits (garbage truck) get here, that's when the true savings come,' said Catt. 'This is just the first step of three we will be taking over the next year.'

Pulliaum abstained forcing a role call vote. Confusion abounded among city council in the Zoom meeting leaving the number of needed household carts short.

Councilwoman Melanie Hutchinson said, 'I do not know what you are asking me to do,' before voting nay.

Councilwoman Helen Harris abstained saying, 'I really don't understand the whole thing and won't vote until I do.'

The role call recorded city council votes as Catt, yes; Croom, abstain, Harris, abstain; Holt, yes; Hutchinson, nay; Mohammed, yes; Mondy, yes; Murray, yes; Pulliaum, abstain; Wheeless, yes.

With six yes votes the mayor declared the motion passed as a simple majority of the 10 council representatives, but seven votes were required to appropriate the money. Council failed to fund the total carts needed.

Cart availability from the distributor was on a sixty day back order basis. The mayor promised to reintroduce the measure to acquire the needed carts.

'We will bring this back up at another time and see if you want to get the additional 1,000 carts,' said McClendon.

Photo by John Rech