Dale McNish,
Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A BREAKDOWN in garbage collection in Hanover by Western Parks and Market (WPM) has angered Lucea's Mayor, Lloyd Hill, who said payments to the agency should be withheld.
Mayor Hill said WPM's presence has not been felt for nearly two months and that this has caused garbage to pile up in the Lucea, Hopewell, Green Island and Sandy Bay areas.
"We are not getting the desired service from WPM and the sad thing (is that) they have to be paid whether the work is done satisfactorily or not.
"We should be able to withhold the cheques," Mayor Hill said at a recent meeting of the Parish Council.
"Too often the trucks are broken down or just not available and garbage is left on the streets for days and weeks uncollected," he said.
The Mayor, who is also Councillor for the Sandy Bay Division, said he considered this inefficiency "an act of injustice to the people of this parish, especially at a time when we are appealing to the citizens to pay their property taxes which is used to pay for garbage collection."
In its defence, WPM public cleansing officer Robert Crooks, said garbage collection had been affected by frequent rainfall which prevented workmen from completing their schedule in some cases.
In a report read at the meeting under his signature, Mr. Crooks said, "the crew stuck to the task and although late at times, accomplished their tasks.
"On some days (it was a) matter of making two trips to cope with the backlog of garbage." Areas like the Johnson Town main road, Orange Bay and Green Island were hardest hit because the workers were unable to keep to their schedule, the report said.
The report noted that there was a pile-up of garbage and other items but that arrangements had been made to send out a Toyota truck and the compactor. However, added the report, workers had previously gone out to correct the situation but were greeted by thugs who hurled stones and abusive language and tried to force the crew to put non-compactable items into the compactor.
However, the Mayor dismissed the report as irrelevant, saying that it sounded like it "was written some months ago after the contractor was dismissed when there was a little improvement which was not sustained."
He reiterated his position that both the closed garbage trucks and the open-body trucks must clean the main towns of Lucea, Hopewell, Green Island and Sandy Bay on a regular basis.
