THE SPECTATOR: “A BUNCH OF GARBAGE”

  

The City of Brenham’s proposal to outsource its trash and recycling operations has drawn quite a backlash from citizens….both within the City and outside of it.  In the proposal, Brannon Industrial Group would take over both the commercial and residential pickup of Brenham’s garbage.  While the commercial operations have been outsourced for many years, the City has been handling its own residential collection for more than fifty years.

First let me say that the City’s public relations handling of this issue has been pretty awful. Citizens feel like the idea has just been sprung on them with little or no public input.  KWHI tried for days to get an interview with City officials in order to answer many of the public’s questions.  Instead, after several days we received a news release with some of the questions answered, but not all.

Here are a few things that were not in that release.  The folks riding on the back of the City’s two garbage trucks are not full-time employees.  They are part-time workers hired through a temporary placement agency, and are paid anywhere from $11 to $16 per hour.  The main reason given by the City for this outsourcing is that it’s become too difficult to find people willing to do this job.  The City also listed the safety and risk to their employees riding on the back of the trucks as a reason.  However, we now know those folks work for the temporary placement agency.  One of the main things that I believe City officials should have made clear is that Brannon Industrial Group’s operations will be automated.  The trucks have equipment that picks up the trash containers and empties them, before replacing them on the curb.  So no one will have to ride on the back of the garbage truck.

I know lots of people are complaining that they prefer carrying plastic garbage bags to the curb instead of rolling out a trash container.  I’m not quite sure how rolling a container can be more difficult than carrying out multiple bags of trash.  But if it is, you can always roll your empty container to the curb, then fill it with your trash bags.  Yes, you will still be using plastic trash bags…you don’t just dump your garbage into the container.

There’s a lot more I’d like to cover about this issue, but we are still waiting on answers…like what operations will be like at the City’s Collection Station once BIG is running it.  Much of that is still to be worked out, as negotiations are ongoing and no contract has been signed.  The bottom line is that from what I have learned, which includes the addition of curbside recycling, I agree with the City that this is the best step forward.  Brannon Industrial Group is a local company.  So if we must outsource our sanitation and recycling operations, who better to give it to than someone local.  Could the City have done a better job of informing the public of this change?  Most definitely.

I hope to have more to tell you in the coming days and weeks.  And that’s the way it looks to this Spectator.