Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell asked Cobb solid waste officials Tuesday to explore other options to a proposal to dramatically alter how private trash haulers operate in the county.
During a work session, Birrell said she was opposed to a proposal by Cobb Sustainability, Waste and Beautification director Jonathan Jenkins to designate a sole trash hauler to provide pickup and recycling services in each of four areas of the county.
The trash proposal, prompted by lingering complaints about inconsistent service in recent years, has drawn some citizen opposition.
“I’m in favor of an open market and people choosing who they want,” Birrell told Jenkins. “Restricting it to one hauler per district is not the solution to the problem.”
She wanted to have the matter pulled and held until the county next considers code amendments in January, “to meet with the haulers and the public.”
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said at a later meeting Thursday night that none of her colleagues are in favor of reducing service to one hauler per district, but that there is plenty of time before next month’s public hearings on code amendments.
“We’ve been dealing with this for years now,” Cupid said. “Residents have been dealing with this for far too long. This is our best opportunity to do something.”
The work session was for presentation purposes only; commissioners will hold public hearings on the code amendments on Sept. 13 and Sept. 27, before voting on them on the latter date.
Birrell, a three-term Republican from Northeast Cobb who is seeking re-election in November, is a former consultant for Waste Management, and disclosed that she has not been employed in the industry in a decade.
She said that if the county would put trash services out for bid, she would recuse herself, but that she would want to be involved with other possible ordinance changes.
Cobb County Attorney Bill Rowling said that the proposed code amendment, as written, would allow only four trash haulers in the county, in each of the four commission districts.
“I don’t know if there are four haulers that could take on the magnitude of that kind of lift, to gear up” to provide such an expanded level of service, he said.
He added that while those “are policy issues,” there are “a lot of legal obligations” the county would have to meet.
Birrell acknowledged longstanding complaints about trash service, but said Tuesday after the new proposal was submitted, she’s heard from many citizens who are happy with their service.
“This needs to be looked at some more,” Birrell said. “There are other options we can look at.”
Citizens and businesses in unincorporated Cobb contract with private trash services. There have been numerous complaints about one provider in particular, American Disposal, which has bought up a number of other smaller haulers in recent years.
Commissioner Monique Sheffield of South Cobb said that she has supported revoking the license of “one company in particular” that she did not name and would not want to penalize other service providers for the acts of “one bad apple.”
Jenkins said that performance issues have increased in particular since the recession.
More than 60 haulers once provided those services, he said, but that number dropped by a half by the time of the recession; Cobb customers are currently served by 18-20 trash providers.
Republican commissioner Keli Gambrill of North Cobb called the trash proposal an issue of government stepping in far beyond what it should be doing.
She said she hasn’t received many complaints about trash services from her constituents in District 1 since the pandemic; Jenkins said he’s heard most from residents in Districts 2 and 3 in East Cobb.
Gambrill also was upset that Jenkins hadn’t met with her before crafting the ordinance change; he replied that he had discussed the issue with her in a virtual meeting.
When Gambrill asked Jenkins if he had met with any haulers, he said his last meeting with them was in the fall of 2019.
Cupid—who earlier in the work session admonished Gambrill for questioning Jenkins in what she thought was an adversarial tone—pointed out that other proposed ordinance changes haven’t always involved discussions with those in various industries and professions.
When Cobb was changing the code regarding massage parlors, Cupid said, “we didn’t talk to masseuses,” and she rattled off several other similar examples.
But Gambrill said such a proposal—to have the county assign private trash haulers—”has not been on the books. This is completely new. . . . When they’re new they go through an extensive community process” before being voted on.
Cupid replied that “this is not completely new or it would be completely underlined.”
Related:
- Proposed changes to Cobb trash service draw citizen opposition
- $1 billion in 2022 Cobb property tax bills issued; due Oct. 15
- Cobb settles lawsuit with Uber driver; agrees to pay $250K
- Cobb DOT to start Bill Murdock-Pine Road realignment
- East Piedmont Road resurfacing project continues
- East Cobb resurfacing projects OK’d with 2022 SPLOST funds
- Cobb commissioners adopt $1.2 billion fiscal year budget
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