By Andrew Edwards
Elmore/Autauga News Staff Writer
Top Photo: Information on how you can contact Waste Management regarding garbage service issues or concerns
The battle between the Elmore County Commission and Waste Management has seemingly hit an all time high.
At Monday’s Elmore County Commission meeting, Waste Management Rep. Van Forrester was met by less than satisfied commissioners – all of which had their own individual complaints about the service that the company has been providing.
Commissioners believed the issues, such as missed trash routes, garbage on the streets, and overall less than stellar customer service, were going to be fixed in October 2020 when Advanced Disposal was bought out by Waste Management.
It’s gotten to its worst point yet, according to several commissioners.
It is important to note that Elmore County is not alone in its battle for better service from Waste Management. In April WM officials visited with the Autauga County Commission, with an update on how they are working to correct issues for that county as well. See link to that story at https://elmoreautauganews.com/2021/04/21/waste-management-officials-lay-out-plan-to-correct-trash-overload-in-autauga-county/
Forrester attempted to stop the bleeding by citing that WM had a recent, “successful” job fair where they were able to hire 10 new drivers for Elmore County. He also explained that, by the end of October, the company expects to have 75 more customer service representatives, which would help to mitigate long waits on the phone and would spark more communication between the customer and the company.
“To give you an idea of how many more that that is [customer representatives], in June and July, we were operating with 25,” Forrester said.
Forrester explained that each driver must go through 8-10 weeks of training when learning their routes, which are now dictated by tablets in the vehicles.
“Driver training is ongoing, and it’s a painstakingly lengthy process. It’s been about four and half months since we migrated all the customers into our systems and it’s just not gone as smooth as we hoped it would be,” Forrester said.
Not only did commissioners agree with Forrester’s statement, they then proceeded to individually lay out examples of the company’s shortcomings in each of their districts.
District 1 Commissioner Henry Hines did not hold back when expressing his displeasure.
“It seems like this problem is bigger now than it was six months ago. When I got elected in November, I never realized that I would be working four or five days for Waste Management, an hour a day. Because that’s what I’m spending at this present time. When I wake up in the morning, there’s a half dozen emails already on my phone with people telling me that their trash wasn’t picked up, or that their container is damaged,” Hines said.
Hines explained that since January 1st, the county’s website has received 447 complaints related to Waste Management.
“That’s a tremendous amount, and when you break it down, that’s a couple every day. You keep coming back and saying that you’re getting better – but you’re not. We need action, now,” Hines said.
Vice-Chairman and District 2 Commissioner Mack Daugherty echoed several of Hines’ sentiments.
“Every day last week I got emails and phone calls with complaints from people – mainly saying that my garbage wasn’t picked up on the day the day that it was supposed to be. I have people in my district saying your company promised them that the trash would be picked up the next day and it wasn’t,” Daugherty said. “I looked up the net worth for Waste Management and it says online that it was $21 B. No one will ever convince me, with all due respect, that a company with all those assets couldn’t service 80,000 people in Elmore County, Alabama.”
Likewise, District 4 Commissioner Bart Mercer was displeased about the lack of service that such a large, prominent company is providing to a relatively small county.
“I can’t understand why a company the size of Waste Management can’t get this right. To us, your customer and our constituents, are the most important (people) that you should be addressing that day. If something goes wrong, you need to go back the very next day and fix it – and that’s just not happening right now,” Mercer said. “Why are we having the same problems at the same addresses week after week?”
District 5 Commissioner Desirae Lewis said that she recently had a resident who didn’t have their trash picked up for two months.
“I tried reaching out to you guys to address the problem and didn’t hear back after 24 hours, so I had to get into contact with our Chief Operations Officer to get into contact with you guys. In a way, I felt the treatment that our residents do when they send emails or call and don’t hear anything back. It was very aggravating,” Lewis said.
Chairman and District 3 Commissioner Troy Stubbs addressed the feeling that Waste Management was seemingly on the upswing in late May. He even said the commission was hearing positive feedback from Elmore County residents during that time. Since then, those positive trends have drastically moved downward, he explained.
“We’re getting to a point where, we as a county commission, can’t keep having you come and give a report about some potential positive movement. I’m excited to hear that you have more people and routes and things of that nature. Six months ago, I would have thought that those things would translate into improved service and positive feedback from the community. Now, I doubt that because of the things that we’ve observed over those months,” Stubbs said.
Ultimately, Stubbs said that he’s asked the county attorney to review the contract that was with Advanced Disposal, which was subsequently transitioned to Waste Management, to determine where they are with the contract and what the options are with its renewal in 2024.
“We have to have some level of recourse on behalf of the people of Elmore County,” Stubbs said.
