One of the city’s most vital departments is in need of employees. “All the positions on the driving end are really short. There’s a lot of other vacancies,” said Ernest Pacheco, a supervisor in the city’s Solid Waste Department. The city’s Solid Waste Department is made up of 542 positions. Right now, it has more than 100 vacancies. When fully staffed, it has 173 collections drivers. Currently, it is down 20 collections drivers. The department is also looking to hire two equipment operators and five transport operators.
“The impact of that has just been having to step up and cover the different facilities and work six days a week for probably the last year. This has been hard on everybody,” said Pacheco.
The city is having some success hiring employees with backgrounds in driving, like Pacheco, who was a truck driver before working for Solid Waste. “I was over the road for 15 years of my life. Not home, missing graduations, celebrations, all family functions,” said Pacheco. Kimberly Francis has been a collections driver for a little more than a year. “You get to go home every night, you’re not stuck out, and it’s fun,” said Francis. She used to be a truck driver and is now a new mom.