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.
Concerned Citizen You Are Right ! Apparently, now it is an acceptable practice to have local government flat out LIE to the taxpayers. Previous articles had City Government Management tell us that City Employees rode the back of the garbage trucks. The Spectator exposed this Lie to the Taxpayers. Shame on City Management, Elected Officials, who have supported the LIe or other Lies that we don’t know yet. Who can the Taxpayers trust at City Hall! Thank you Spectator for bringing out the Truth !
Just to be clear….there are City employees riding the back of garbage trucks. But they are employees from other departments that have to fill in when they don’t have enough of the temp workers to do the job.
I wonder if the city has even discussed having the same type of truck BIG has and continue to pick up the garbage but as I said we the people will not be listened to by the city because they want to do it their way without giving us options.They must think they are in Washington DC. It is becoming a sad world that we have no say in anything that concerns us as citizens.
So, in the summer, we are supposed to let trash sit for a week and in the heat? Do you understand what happens with that? Maggots. Thats what happens.
To Spectator… but you have not addressed once a week pickup. Wait until the hot summer and you have that roll around container in your garage or next to your home full of rotting garbage! Worst yet, wait until the neighbors put their container on your side and you have to smell their trash… 7 days is way to long. It may be fine in other towns but we live in Brenham. If buzzards find the trash now in one day, just wait until we have stinking garbage in a container for 7 days. We want a nice clean and rural town, but we don’t want to keep it clean? I routinely see more that 2-3 bags on the curb now with twice per week pickup. And the current city bags are way larger that 12 gallons. So we will get the equivalent of 3 city trash bags picked up weekly. What do you think is going to happen to the fourth bag? maybe thrown off a bridge in the county? People wont pay for it.. Excellent Trash Pickup is a necessity to the community and to the taxpayers who live in the city. The city needs to invest our tax dollars in our community and quit taking from the tax payer for frivolous spending projects. Priority in Spending is lost at city hall. THE MAIN POINT HERE IS while Taxes Increase, Services Decrease..
Silas…as I said in my article, there are more issues to be addressed. I will do so in future articles. I don’t live in the City, so my family has once a week trash pickup. We have no problem with that, and our container is only 65 gallons. Before you say anything, I recognize there are people with larger families than mine. My News Department will do some research into what other cities our size are doing, and whether they have once or twice a week pickup. We are also going to ask the City if they ran the numbers on what it would cost them to buy 3 new automated trucks, buy everyone in the City two containers, and pick up the trash twice a week as it is now. I’m guessing they did that and realized the amount of increase in everyone’s bill necessary to pay for that service would be unacceptable to citizens. And they certainly could not afford to add curbside recycling to it. But that’s just one of the many questions that need to be answered or brought to public light.
Thanks! We will await more info.. hopefully it will be before they City Council votes.
I live in the county and don’t dispose of my trash but once a weeek. To prevent odor I put the items that might begin to stink in a plastic bag in the freezer to add to the trash when I’m headed out the door to dispose of the trash. I cut down on trash by recycling at least twice as much as I throw away. Breaking down or smashing items greatly cuts back on the volume of trash. Times change, the world goes on, think smart and change with the times. As we get older that concept gets harder BUT it still happens.
We understand that the recycling center on South Market will be closed. What a shame that will be for those of us who live beyond the city limits and appreciate the efficiency of that operation. It has been such a great experience to see how well it has been operated for so long, and we appreciate having a place to bring our bi weely separated trash items. We hope it will remain open.
If the main issue is SAFETY of men riding on back of truck have Citizens on Patrol follow them around more patrol and eyes win win. Looks like the city council does not want to put this to a vote.
From what I have read this is not any kind of improvement in service. What it comes down to is a city employee admitting to the public that he is not able to handle the job that he has. There is no reason that the city cannot implement the same changes at a lower cost rather then outsourcing to a private contractor. If the person hired to manage this service cannot handle the job then he should be replaced.