Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland has announced that he has a “fix-it” plan for the city’s solid waste program.Along with changing the city’s waste provider to Waste Pro for the moment, another change on the fix-it list is ramping up solid waste staffing and rebuilding the equipment fleet. Ads and orders for potential employees and equipment have been placed. Strickland said that years ago, to save money, 76 solid waste positions were not filled and equipment wasn’t replaced. “Once all this comes together, likely by October we’ll have the necessary people and equipment to pick up garbage outside the cart every other week and without calling 311.”
The city also plans to reinstate a divison of solid waste, which they say will allow leadership to focus on improving services as well. Mayor Strickland is proposing this plan with no rate increase for now but the Memphis City Council must still sign off on the plan.
Community leader Patricia Rogers, who attended the announcement, is often outspoken about trash and debris pickup in the city, particularly Fox Meadows. She is excited about the proposed changes. “It was moving very very slowly, it was very frustrating but he made a giant step today and I’m here in support of Mayor Strickland,” said Rogers.
Read the full story at https://wreg.com/2018/07/20/memphis-mayor-lays-out-fix-it-list-for-citys-solid-waste/.