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 In frustration, many have taken to social media. Facebook and
Twitter have been burning up with comments and questions about the city services
and what many consider a deterioration of services since COVID-19 hit Georgia
over a year ago. The comments have been going like this:
• “For a long time, no one would pick up household garbage or yard clippings.
Everyone blamed COVID. But as we started coming out of COVID, nothing changed.”
• “They are quick to send out the bills, but not so quick to
respond to our calls.”
• “Even when they returned to household garbage service – it was sporadic, and
they are still blaming COVID.”
• “Finally getting my garbage picked up, but no word on yard clippings.”
In a Facebook thread on Atlanta’s Westview Neighbors page, residents traded
stories about inconsistent pickup:
• Quick check: anybody who's trash day is today get their trash and/or yard
trimmings picked up yet? Did y’all Thursday peeps get serviced yet? Last week
they came well before this time.
– Good luck. I’ve been waiting to actually receive bins to put my
trash/recycling in for a month now. Multiple calls to 311. They are backlogged
and they can neither confirm nor deny that I’m in the system because my home is
new.
– Our trash was picked up, but the yard trimmings were not. Didn’t put the
recycling out because I assumed we were still on the on/off week for recycling.
– well this week was recycling lol both trash and recycling were collected
today. Next week is yard trimmings but collections are delayed a day, then June
7th we go back to everything being picked up weekly.
You get the point.
City residents were billed for their solid waste services in July 2020, paying
around $500 annually for household trash service, yard waste pickup and
recycling. The bills were paid, but “full” service still didn’t happen. Many
residents said garbage service was sporadic at best. Recyclables were left
untouched and yard trimmings were left on the side of the road, but no refunds
went to city residents.
Meanwhile, in her 2021 State of the City
remarks, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms thanked essential workers, including
sanitation workers, “for keeping our city going during these difficult times.”
She added, “We shifted many of our city employees to teleworking and supported
those on the front lines with $500 per month in hazard pay. This included our
public safety personnel and our sanitation workers and many others who worked
nonstop to keep our city running during this pandemic.”
Reduced or ‘modified’?
City officials do not consider the pickup changes to be reduced service,
according to a post on the FAQs page of the Department of Public Works’ Office
of Solid Waste Services:
"The changes being implemented by the Department, as result of the effects of
the global pandemic and the ongoing State of Emergency, will not result in a
reduction in the services being provided, only a modification to the frequency
of the services. Accordingly, at this time the City is not anticipating a change
in the rates for the short-term modification of the scheduled pickup of yard
trimmings and recycling."
Calls to the city of Atlanta have turned up little information. A spokesperson
for the city’s Department of Public Waste initially responded that service has
been hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have continued weekly trash service throughout the pandemic, while we did
implement temporary service changes for recycling and yard clippings – providing
this bi-weekly,” Antoinette Govan said. “The issues started with COVID, then it
became an issue of lack of employees.” The city announced June 1
that weekly recycling and yard trimming pickup service would resume June 7.
Despite Govan’s statement that recycling and yard trimming pickups have taken
place every other week since mid-February, some residents said they have been
without service for months.
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Asked whether residents could expect a refund or
credit for the fees they paid over the past year, Govan asked that
questions be put in writing, in an email. Her response repeated –
verbatim – the paragraph from the FAQs page: that it was “not a
reduction in the services being provided, only a modification to the
frequency of the services,” and that the city “is not anticipating a
change in the rates for the short-term modification.”
Atlanta is not the only municipality to feel the staffing effects of
the pandemic, but other local governments have not shut down
services.
Macon-Bibb County struggled a little early on in the pandemic but
continued services, said Chris Floore, chief communications officer.
“The landfill has been in and out of service because of COVID, and
we had a few moments where we had to shut down, but those were
isolated incidences,” Floore said.
Contracting services
Household garbage service and recycling are contracted out to a
private company in Macon-Bibb, while the county handles pickup of
yard trimmings.
The company, ADS/Waste Management, announced late last month that
“due to severe staffing shortages,” it could not fully staff its
fleet of vehicles and was running behind on collections. Garbage is
collected weekly and recycling is picked up every other week, on
garbage pickup day. (Yard trimmings are picked up every other week).
Residents pay Macon-Bibb $20 per month for the service.
Floore said the company “had some problems with personnel, but they
worked hard to stay caught up.” The company has been offering
signing bonuses, but people are not applying for the jobs, he said.
“Fifteen started the process of applying after the last job fair.
Only five completed it,” Floore said.
The sign-on bonus: $5,000 for any drivers and diesel technicians who
remain employed for at least 12 months.
“This is not a COVID issue. This is a result of people not working,”
Floore said. “It’s a shortage of personnel; this is definitely an
employees’ market.”
Floore said officials are telling people to be patient if service is
delayed a few days.
“They are working as hard as they can and trying to stay caught up,"
Floore said. "We tell our residents that if their garbage is not
picked up on schedule, leave the trash can out, and they will get to
it in a day or two.”
Savannah doubles up
Savannah’s Residential Refuse Collection Department collects trash
and yard waste once a week from city residences. The regular
residential charge starts at about $36 per month – about $432
annually. A spokesman for the Public Works Department said all
sanitation services have “stayed up and running.”
“We were short-handed at times, but we always continued our
services: household garbage and yard waste," the spokesman said. "We
never missed a pickup, even if we had to run double shifts.”
The Georgia Public Policy Foundation, as far back as 1996,
maintained that for the city of Atlanta to prosper, “it must
privatize, consolidate city and county services, and improve
employee accountability.” Outsourcing services and
managed competition – in which government departments can compete in
bidding with private companies to provide a service – could help
improve efficiencies and give taxpayers bang for their buck. As
Atlanta residents watch how city government resumes services, they
may well be asking themselves why it’s taking so long for the city
to consider this route.
• Cindy Morley is a freelance writer for the Georgia Public Policy
Foundation.
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