BY SARAH STEPHENS
ELMORE/AUTAUGA NEWS
On Monday, the Elmore County Commission announced they are taking bids for a new garbage service for Elmore County, and ending ties with Waste Managment.
This decision was based on thousands of complaints from residents within Elmore County about shoddy service, or lack thereof, from Waste Management. The company took over the contract for solid waste disposal in Elmore County two years ago, and officials said Monday night that multiple issues forced the individual Commissions to make the change.
This falls on the heels of Autauga County Commission members announcing a change in their garbage service as well, also ending relations with Waste Management.
“We are in possession of addendums to contracts for Elmore, Eclectic, Deatsville and Wetumpka, basically giving us notice that they would like to participate in a new competitive bid process for residential service. Staff has been working over the past month to get bit specs and items in place. That information went back out to the four municipalities that want to participate in the joint bid,” Beyer said.
If live in Elmore County in city limits of a city not named above, your service will not change.
“We are just waiting for a review this week from them. Eclectic has already given us some comments back. Once we do that we’ll be moving forward on soliciting those bids. What our intention is, is that by the end of February we will have those to consider in terms of next steps. As many of you know some of our cities were going to be without service as of Dec. 31. This puts them in a position where they at least have service until June1 until these bids can be handled.”
The Elmore/Autauga News has reported multiple stories concerning issues with Waste Management’s service, not only in Elmore, but Autauga County as well.
District 4 Commissioner Bart Mercer told the EAN that this will hopefully bring some relief to not only customers who need garbage service, but also the Elmore County Commission. “All of us get multiple calls a day from constituents complaining about the service,” Mercer said. “This has been a long process, but we are moving forward.”
The service was reportedly so bad, that the Commission established a separate email account just for complaints surrounding Waste Management’s service
On several occasions officials with Waste Management met with both Elmore and Autauga County Commissions, explaining that COVID had a terrible impact on the ability to hire truck drivers, as well as other staff. But in the end, both Commissions have made the decision to end Waste Management services for residents in their counties (not including those who have city services) and start fresh in the New Year.
We will have more information when it becomes available for Elmore County residents, as to who the new garbage service provider will be.
For Autauga County – Waste Management customers will have a new solid waste provider as of Feb. 1. The new provider is Arrow Disposal Service Inc (ADSI). ADSI was awarded the solid waste collection contract with the lowest bid of $23.25/month. Waste Management will continue to provide service in Autauga County through Feb. 1.
Beginning 01/19, ADSI will start delivering their new cans to Autauga County residents.
Waste Management customers have been automatically enrolled and do NOT need to sign up for service with ASDI. The account information and payment for the month of February was transferred to them from Waste Management. However, if you currently have an outstanding balance due, please remit payment to Waste Management.
Arrow will continue to collect garbage throughout the month of February for Autauga County customers at no additional charge. Customers in Autauga County will receive their first invoice from Arrow in late February. The first quarterly invoice from Arrow will be for garbage service provided during the three months of March, April and May. For more information Autauga County residents can contact ADSI at 1-866-440-3983.
