“Our inboxes are overflowing with unflattering emails.”
“People are screaming at us.”
“Help us.”
That’s the message several city councilmembers — Howard Shook, Cleta Winslow and Joyce Sheperd — had for Atlanta’s public works commissioner Tuesday, as complaints over delays in yard trimming collection have piled up.
Some Atlanta residents have said their bags of grass, leaves and tree clippings have sat curbside for weeks without being picked up by the city.
Al Wiggins, Jr., the commissioner of the Department of Public Works, said the city is well aware of the issue and taking steps to fix it. He told the City Council’s utilities committee Tuesday that the department sought emergency contracts for additional help with yard trimming collection, and received bids from two landscaping companies.
The city hopes to meet with the companies this week to negotiate the potential contracts, and have them roll out trucks and begin service within the next few weeks, Wiggins said.
The department is also hoping to sign a contract with a staffing agency to bolster its staffing numbers; the city received five bids to an emergency procurement request.
Wiggins said the department is struggling with daily attendance numbers due to COVID-19.
“For the majority of the month of September, we have really struggled to put together yard trimmings crews. Many days we have gone without yard trimmings crews,” he said. “We’re getting very close to our staffing goals, but our attendance is a very fluid situation.”
Credit: Alyssa Pointer
Credit: Alyssa Pointer
In the meantime, he said crews will prioritize neighborhoods that have gone the longest without yard trimmings pickup. Garbage crews will also pick up yard debris if it is four bags or less, Wiggins said.
In July, the city announced it was reducing yard trimmings to every other week to reduce the strain on the under-staffed department. It also said it was holding a “hiring blitz” to recruit more workers.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a tweet earlier this month that frustration over the pickup delays is “understandable,” and that the city is competing for employees and dealing with challenges related to COVID. Low staffing levels among sanitation workers has become a concern among cities and counties metro-wide this year.
Councilmembers, meanwhile, asked Wiggins what they can tell residents about when they can expect service to pick back up.
“The good news is, grass growth is coming to an end. The bad news is the leaves are falling,” Shook said.
Wiggins said he hopes to “get this done in the next 20 to 25 days.”
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