South Portland’s plan to pay a commercial trash hauler to collect rubbish doesn’t make sense. It would cost the city more money and make a waste of money the city invested in automated garbage trucks.
The South Portland City Council will vote next Wednesday on whether to give Pine Tree Waste a $4.3 million contract to pick up the city’s trash and recyclables for the next five years.
The cost of the contract would increase what the city’s spending on trash by $427,909, but the city would save about $295,000 by removing the responsibility from the Public Works Department, which would include eliminating two positions. That would leave the city with an additional cost of about $133,000.
It simply doesn’t make sense to spend more money on trash collection after investing $360,000 just a couple years ago to purchase two new, automated, trash-pickup trucks.
The city has definitely had its share of problems with the new automated trucks. One truck has required regular repairs, and the other was demolished in a rollover accident in April. The city employee who was driving had been behind the wheel of one of the new trucks for only seven weeks when he apparently turned onto Plymouth Road from Highland Avenue too fast.
The employee, who was facing possible termination in June over the accident, admitted he had made a mistake, but felt he hadn’t had enough training to operate the truck. (The city has declined to comment on the termination hearing because it is a personnel matter.)
The chairman of the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Bob Sevigny, said in June driver training had been an ongoing concern for the union. The two automated trash trucks were of particular concern because the trucks, which have a robotic arm, require specialized training.
The city, however, disputes the assertion that its training is inadequate. Public Works Director Dana Anderson said in June all drivers have to pass a state written exam and road test and are encouraged to take dry runs to get comfortable with operating the vehicles. In city documents, Anderson attributed the crash to excessive speed and poor driver judgment.
The city has also had a hard time hiring people to pick up the trash. Acting City Manager Jim Gailey said this week no one wants the menial job of picking up the trash, because it involves a lot of repetition.
With all of these problems, handing over the responsibility to a private company would understandably be an enticing prospect. With more expertise and a large trash-collecting operation, Pine Tree Waste would seemingly be able to do the job more efficiently.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the case, which is why this doesn’t make sense. If Pine Tree can hire people to pick up the trash, so can the city of South Portland.
The $133,000 of additional money the city would spend on this contract could easily be used to improve training and increase the compensation for trash collectors to a point that would make the jobs more enticing. There might even be enough left over to cover the cost of any future repairs on the automated trucks.
Brendan Moran, editor
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