Council signals support for in-house sanitation service

City prepared to take back trash pickup by fall

Simpsonville, S.C. — Simpsonville City Council signaled strong support on Tuesday for resuming trash pickup by the Simpsonville Public Works Department after contracting out for several years sanitation service to a third-party vendor.

City Council voted 6-0 at the March Committee of the Whole meeting to place the proposal to move sanitation services back into the control of the City of Simpsonville on the agenda for the next business meeting. Councilman Ken Cummings of Ward V was not present for the vote.

During the online meeting live streamed over the City of Simpsonville YouTube Channel, City Administrator Dianna Gracely said managing sanitation services will enable Public Works Director Andy West and her to directly deal with any issues and "deliver a better product to the citizens."

"With the City taking (trash pickup) back in-house, it gives us the ability to control customer service because the employees are City employees ... ," said Gracely, who presented the proposal to Council. "While there are always going to be issues now and again, the City is in a position to respond more quickly because we're here and on site everyday where a third-party vendor is here only two days a week."

A former Council approved in 2016 a 5-year contract for ACE Environmental to take over sanitation services. The contract with ACE, which Meredian Waste recently acquired, ends in September.

Gracely noted at the meeting that the contract with ACE was born from concerns about the City's aging sanitation equipment and the lack of appetite by a previous Council for taking on additional capital costs to keep control over sanitation services. Since that switch to the third-party vendor, Council has received regular criticisms about garbage collection.

"I know you all have had some pain and a not-so-pleasant experience over the course of the last four and a half years as a result of that because you're getting complaints from citizens about missed pickups and other issues with maybe garbage being strewn about, and all you can do is call and relay that to the third-party vendor," Gracely said to Council. "That is the case with any third party."

The proposal by West for reclaiming trash pickup was among two other proposals that were presented to Council at a retreat in March. The additional proposals were a new contract with Meridian or the Greater Greenville Sanitation Service.

Councilwoman Jenn Hulehan of Ward 3 said on Tuesday the "clear winner overall" and "financially better" proposal is West's proposal for Public Works to take back control of trash pickup.

"It's a better use of money, and it provides the quality of service that we're looking to get back to, and so I don't think there's for me any question that this is the appropriate proposal to accept and that this is the direction that we need to go in," said Hulehan, who made the motion for initial approval of the proposal.

Simpsonville City Council approved in 2018 a new Public Works fee to give the City the ability to have garbage collection in-house and repave crumbling roads. The ordinance, which passed by a vote of 7-0, increased the Public Works fee from $34 to $167.

Councilman Matthew Gooch of Ward 1 was on Council in 2016 when the City entered into its current contract with ACE. Gooch said on Tuesday that Council had to contract sanitation services with ACE "to get by, and it worked well enough to get us through."

"We can do (trash pickup) much better in-house as we have done in the past and actually do it in a way that was less expensive than what we're currently paying," Gooch said. "We're actually going to be saving the taxpayers' dollars. It's going to be a much-improved level of service. All I would say is to those who have been waiting for this patiently, please be patient with us as we transition in this process."

Mayor Paul Shewmaker said he agreed with his fellow Council members but expressed a concern about whether the City could order and receive enough garbage trucks by September. Gracely said that West and she issued a few months ago a letter of intent to a manufacturer to purchase the trucks given the Public Works fee increase and feedback from Council about ACE.

The City plans to order three side-loader trucks and one rear-loader truck if Council approves the in-house proposal next month.

"We have been assured ... that all of those trucks are on schedule to be delivered no later than the end of July," Gracely said.

Council will hold a business meeting April 13 at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall. Social distancing measures will be in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.