Jackson garbage collection at stalemate. Here is where council stands as trash piles up

Crews from Richard’s Disposal Inc. were out in force throughout Jackson Monday following Saturday’s failure by the Jackson City Council to ratify a 6-year contract for the waste collection company.

But the workers were not collecting garbage. Instead they were collecting signatures from frustrated residents with the intent of presenting a petition to city leaders. The employees said the company wants a rehearing with the council so they can go back to work.

Richard’s employees Barbara Ford, Kenneth Cox and Christopher Jones were among the crew members navigating a large disposal truck through areas of the Fondren North neighborhood.

“We know it’s not the residents’ fault,” Ford said, as dozens of uncollected garbage cans, bags and various items including a mattress littered the neighborhood streets. She praised Richard’s as a good company to work for and said the crew members were anxious and willing to keep serving the city.

The move came as the city council is moving forward with a lawsuit against Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba. An amended complaint filed in Hinds County Chancery Court n March 26 is seeking a declaratory judgment and a petition for injunctive relief against the mayor’s refusal to present alternative vendors before the council after Richard’s was voted down.

“The rule of law matters in a democracy — that’s what the city council is standing up for,” said attorney Deshun Martin, who is serving as an independent legal representative to the council.

The case is expected to be heard by Judge David Clark who was appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court after Hinds County chancellors recused themselves.

Martin said as of Monday afternoon there has been no word on when Clark would hear the case, although the request for an expedited hearing has been filed.

The council’s position generally, Martin said, is that since Lumumba failed to present a second bidder (i.e. Waste Management or FCC Environmental Services) in the city’s RFP process after the council rejected the first bidder (i.e. Richard’s), the council should have the right to negotiate a contract for garbage collection independent of the mayor.

He characterized the rebidding of Richard’s contract in different forms after it had already been rejected as more of an “inaction” than an actual action by Lumumba.

“The city council is asking the judge for the authority to move on to another vendor that can secure a majority vote,” Martin said.

Lacking that authority would essentially afford the mayor a nearly unlimited authority to rule as he wishes without the consent of council members, he said.

Despite some Attorney General opinions related to inaction by mayors in similar circumstances the issue remains unsettled law in Mississippi, Martin said, making the ruling by Clark particularly important moving forward.

Meantime negotiations over who will continue to pick up household waste in the city short term appears to remain at a standoff.

Council members contacted by the Clarion Ledger Monday afternoon were not immediately for comment.

The mayor’s communications director Melissa F. Payne also provided no immediate update from the mayor’s office but promised to be in touch “when we have something.”

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson, MS, garbage collection at stalemate